Montclair Native Writes ‘Empowering, Feminist Mystery Novel’

MONTCLAIR, NJ — When Montclair native Nancy Burke decided to change her life by “prioritizing herself and her passions,” she knew it would mean two things: completing her MFA at the age of 56, and finally writing an empowering, feminist mystery novel.

With the upcoming release of “Only the Women are Burning,” Burke is confident that she’s hit the second mark.

Due for publication by Apprentice House Press on Oct. 1, here’s the plot to the novel, according to the author:

“Three women are eclipsed by flames in a single morning, one at a commuter train, one at a school, one while walking her dog in the woods. The authorities decide the burning women are members of a cult, but when Cassandra learns her former best friend died in the fiery phenomenon she refuses to accept that explanation. A mom and former anthropologist, Cassandra finds herself wrapped up in the mystery of these fiery deaths, searching for a solution. As she delves into this strange episode in her once safe suburban New Jersey town, she must also face some buried truths of her own.”

Burke described the novel as “part mystery, part science-fiction and part suburban domestic novel.”

Burke spoke more about the book and the inspiration that powered it in a news release Q&A, which follows below.

How long have you been working on “Only the Women are Burning,” and where did your idea for the book originate from?

The idea of women bursting into flame came to me nearly two decades ago out of the blue while I was sitting under an elm tree at my swim club. It poured onto the page like this: “The women began to spontaneously ignite, bodies bursting into miniature mountains of flame as they went about their usual daily routines.” I think it came from deep within, from a burning intellectual energy that couldn’t find a channel for release so just exploded in flame. I must have been feeling an intense need to do something else while I was raising my kids, but I hadn’t found it.

In writing this novel, were you inspired by other works of feminist literature, or by other female sleuths? How do you hope readers perceive Cassandra?

I have to dig way back into my reading lists for this question. I read Drinking the Rain by Alix Kates Shulman which was published in 1995 about five years before I started this work. A passage in there stays with me to this day, about the author’s husband who wanted her to co-sign a business loan, but she refused to risk her own financial well-being for his business idea. There was a distinct lesson in that about women and choice that was important beyond the usual issue of abortion. There were many, perhaps not outright feminist books, but with a consciousness

raising influence. Margaret Atwood is a distinctly strong influence. I am a recent discoverer of Rebecca Solnit’s work. I’m listening to Recollections of My Non-existence right now.

I laugh, but I was a big Nancy Drew fan as a kid. Mary Stewart’s novels were also a big part of my reading life as a young teen. I particularly remember The Moon Spinners, about a girl who accompanies her anthropologist aunt to the Greek Isles and solves a mystery. And, I love listening to Tana French’s Irish detective stories on audiobook.

I first developed Cassandra into an unreliable narrator by giving her obsessive-compulsive tendencies. But I didn’t want there to be anything the authorities would use as excuses to not believe her, so she became a mom with a part-time job who was brilliant and well-educated but had no way to channel her brilliance. It took some time for her to emerge as a strong woman who should be listened to even though nobody does. Cassandra, the Greek prophetess has the gift of sight, but Apollo put a curse on her so nobody would believe her prophecies. I want readers to recognize that she (and they) deserve to be listened to because women know things in a different way than men do.

Religious imagery adds another dimension to this story. Can you describe the addition of that, and what it signifies to you?

Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken; the other spared. It’s from the Gospel of Matthew. Why one woman and not the other? Who we are and what we believe helps us to explain the unexplainable and gives us a sense that there is something we can do to change an outcome or ward off evil. If you study anthropology, which I did as an undergrad, you can see how mythology and religion were the first science. Cassandra is an anthropologist and is acutely aware that people process life and death and hardship in particular religious ways. She acknowledges it, but that in no way requires her to accept other’s system of believing. It’s called tolerance. We need more of that.

What do you hope readers will take away from “Only the Women are Burning”?

This is the takeaway… Cassandra has an arcane collection of scientific knowledge accumulated over a lifetime of exploration and inquiry, relationships that succeed or fail; she’s made choices for better or for worse. All of these things allow her to know things in ways the authorities investigating the fires couldn’t possibly know. Only her professor who gave her the ring believed in her. We can all name someone who did that for us. Like Cassandra, I want my readers to find theirs, twirl that imaginary ring, and never let anyone silence or sideline you because your existence and brilliance is inconvenient. Only you can insist on your own truth.

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