Mary S. Ryzuk

The Fires Within: the Summer of '88 Mary S. Ryzuk

Set against the awesome background of the raging 1988 Yellowstone fires, this is the story of a young couple, Jane and Tim, a Forest Ranger, deeply enmeshed in the struggle to contain the out-of-control fires.

They have always seemed passionately destined for each other from childhood but are driven apart by her obsession with her mother's mysterious New England past and an old photo album that contains the only clue to its secrets.

Within this troubling context is the story of Jane's search for a father she has never known and how her obsessive search for him deepens the painful estrangement in her passionate relationship with Tim.

As the fires unrelentingly close in on Jane and Tim, it is while packing up her home during the unsettling time of an enforced evacuation, that she discovers, not only her father's identity, but uncovers a murder within her family's past that intimately involves the man she has sought all of her life.

In this poignant novel, infinite passion, dangerous flames, an unsolved murder, and the power of desperately unfulfilled love are intricately woven together to create a suspenseful tale of desire that will only be satisfied when the mystery of the murder is solved.