Hearts of Flame

Noreen Mitchell is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

Twenty years ago Blair Bowker was a member of a briefly successful folk
band called Hearts of Flame. The band’s breakup was stormy and the
four musicians went their separate ways; but all are now living in the
same city. It is the disappearance of her friend and fellow band member
Ruby, now a glamorous and celebrated fashion designer, that forces Blair
to renew her relationship with the other band members and with Max
Ostriker, the now prominent lawyer who wanted to be their manager so
many years ago. Blair is confounded but driven in her attempts to
understand all that has happened and to piece together the parts of
Ruby’s diary that keep arriving at her door.

Even though the mystery of Ruby’s disappearance is central to the
story, it is more as a work of character and place that Hearts of Flame
is successful. The mix of personalities—the band members as well as
secondary characters—set against the backdrop of Toronto, and the
juxtaposition of 1969 with 1989, are the elements that make the story
interesting. The solving of the mystery in the end is satisfactory but
incidental to Govier’s exploration of strong feelings and emotions.