Her first novel was optioned by Varsity Pictures.Along with Jeffrey Toobin and Douglas Brinkley, Center was one of the speakers at the 2007 Houston Chronicle Book and Author Dinner.She describes her books as 'bittersweet comic novels.'Ĭenter currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two children. Center's work is often categorized as women's fiction, chick lit and mommy lit. More recently she has published How to Walk Away (2018), which became a Book of the Month Club pick Things to Save in a Fire (2019), and What You Wish For (2020). While in graduate school, she distinguised herself as a writer and editor: she co-edited Gulf Coast, a literary fiction magazine, and her graduate thesis earned her a spot as a finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.Ĭenter is the author of 7 novels, starting in 2006 with: T he Bright Side of Disaster. in fiction from the University of Houston. from Vassar College, where she won the Vassar College Fiction Prize. John's School in Houston, Texas, and later earned her B.A. Katherine Center is the author of several contemporary novels about love and family. Education-B.A., Vassar College M.F.A., University of Houston.Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping.and it means risking it all-the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing.

Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a 'lady' on the crew-even one as competent and smart as Cassie. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be.

But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. From the author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds.Ĭassie Hanwell was born for emergencies.

Things you save in a fire