Fire & Water

Only in the glaring light of hindsight does pediatric surgeon Kate Murphy understand that she was groomed for the path she’s taken. Raised by a widowed dad and a misshapen, sometimes comical trio of parental surrogates from Murphy’s Pub, her father’s Irish bar in San Francisco, Kate has never understood how protected she is-but when she learns that her well-meaning family has hidden bitter truths about her mother’s mental illness and death, the rest of her family history unravels. Kate is still recovering from her family’s deception when she becomes involved with Jake Bloom-a charming artist different than anyone she’s ever known. When she experiences his sculptures on Ocean Beach, she is forever changed; in the months that follow, Jake reveals beauty Kate has never noticed, and exposes her to spontaneity, sensuality, and love deeper than she’d imagined it could be. Only Mary K-Kate’s hard-edged best friend who doesn’t miss a thing and names bull when she sees it-is immune to Jake’s charms. She sees the potential for danger in Jake, and, of course, she says so. Caught between her newfound passion and her friendship, Kate dismisses her friend’s warnings. Ultimately, it isn’t until she is in too deep, with a daughter on the way, that Kate understands what Mary K feared on her behalf. Fire & Water is a story of navigating the treacherous territory of passionate love, friendship, and family devotion-and of how love is always a matter of life and death.

Though she’s been a writer all her life, Fire & Water is Betsy Graziani Fasbinder’s debut novel. Prior to this publications, her short works of fiction and memoir have been awarded two East of Eden Awards, a Jack London Award, the Floyd Salas Award for Fiction, and have been produced by Tim O’Connor as Readers’ Theater in the Miners’ Foundry Theater in historical Nevada City, California.

Fasbinder’s parallel career is as a licensed therapist, so she has a deep understanding of the heartache and heroism that real people live in order to become fully human. It is this kind of inspiration that fuels all of the stories that Fasbinder feels compelled to write in both her fictional and memoir works.

Her next novel, currently in progress. Set in California’s Wine Country, this is the story of how different people are from what they first appear. She is also assembling a collection of memoir stories called Filling Her Shoes: The Story of Falling in Love with My Inherited Family.

Nestled in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area, Fasbinder lives with her husband, one son on the launch pad and the other already launched in a nearby town. Her golden-doodle, Edgar is her constant writing companion and most enthusiastic critic.