Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh

Last Updated on August 20, 2022 by ellen

I have been trying to be more aware of when I stop working since I find myself saying “just a few more minutes” much too often. Instead, I’m turning off the computer and trying to be present doing something else. Some nights, it’s a long walk. Some nights it’s a movie with my husband. Other nights, it’s a few hours with a good book like Heat and Night by Jennifer Haigh which deals with fracking in Pennsylvania.

Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh

Forty years ago, Bakerton coal fueled the country. Then the mines closed, and the town wore away like a bar of soap. Now Bakerton has been granted a surprise third act: it sits squarely atop the Marcellus Shale, a massive deposit of natural gas.

To drill or not to drill? Prison guard Rich Devlin leases his mineral rights to finance his dream of farming. He doesn’t count on the truck traffic and nonstop noise, his brother’s skepticism or the paranoia of his wife, Shelby, who insists the water smells strange and is poisoning their frail daughter. Meanwhile, his neighbors, organic dairy farmers Mack and Rena, hold out against the drilling—until a passionate environmental activist disrupts their lives.

Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh is about much more than fracking. It’s about the lives of the people of Bakerton and how they’re impacted by their choices and, good and bad. I love that the author tried to show both sides of fracking in her novel and helped readers understand why the people in Bakerton made their decisions both for and against. She really managed to pull me into the story and the lives of everyone in Bakerton and by the time I was done, I really felt like I knew everyone in town.

Check out this book today. You can find it on Amazon.

ellen

Ellen is a mom of a 25-year-old son and 30-year-old daughter. She is Grandma to one adorable toddler. In what little spare time she has, she loves to read, watch movies, and check out the latest toys and games.