Memories of an Ash Covered Sky is a powerful and emotionally charged novel about a fractured family, buried secrets, and the wildfire that forces everything into the light.

When the Almeda Fire tears through Southern Oregon, a father and daughter—estranged for years—are drawn back into each other’s orbit. Sky Wilson, hardened by life on the streets after fleeing home at seventeen, returns to the valley she once called home—but not without hesitation. Is she making the right choice? Will she be wanted, accepted, forgiven? No one knows the full truth of why she left—or the shame she’s carried ever since. Haunted by the past and unsure of her place in the present, Sky brings back with her more than just emotional scars—she brings a secret she’s never dared to share.

Her father, Chief Murphy Wilson, is battling more than flames. He doesn’t know where Sky is—or if she’s even alive—and the not knowing is tearing him apart. Regret over the father he failed to be—and the repeated pattern of women walking out of his life—haunts him. As the fire threatens to consume the towns he’s sworn to protect, a deeper fear burns inside him: that it’s already too late. He’s clinging to the hope that there’s still time and opportunity to make things right.

Around them, others in the community are being pulled into the fire’s path, each facing their own private battles—grief, trauma, guilt and fear. The blaze becomes more than a backdrop; it’s a mysterious force that reveals what’s been hidden, strips away what no longer matters, and demands transformation from everyone it touches.

As smoke chokes the air and the valley teeters on the edge, Sky and Chief Wilson must confront what drove them apart—and what still binds them—before everything is lost.

Set against the backdrop of one of the most destructive wildfires in Oregon’s history, Memories of an Ash Covered Sky is a raw, deeply human story of survival, second chances, and the fragile hope that family can still be found, even after everything has burned.

Perfect for readers who loved Where the Crawdads Sing, The Glass Castle, or We Are the Brennans, this unforgettable novel explores the beauty in broken things and the redemptive power of coming home.