National Network for Equitable Library Service

Told from the points of view of a mother and daughter, Fire and Air tells the story of a Belgian and Dutch family who flee to Canada to escape the Second World War, only to have the past catch up to them. Ten-year-old Elly Verkest is a first-generation immigrant to Canada. Her father, Gaston, is one of the many Belgians who moved to the country after the Second World War, and her mother, Mina, is from Zundert, a small town in the Netherlands. When Gaston goes on one of his trips to his hometown of Flanders, he doesn’t come back. As each struggles with the sudden disappearance of Gaston, mother and daughter grow farther apart. When she is a young adult, Elly decides to search for her father in Belgium. There, she discovers that Gaston has a secret life. When Elly returns to Canada, she finds out she is pregnant by a man she met in Atwerp. Several years later, Elly’s daughter, Linda, develops a close relationship with her grandmother. Slowly, she discovers all of the family secrets . . .