The Fire Bell Strikes at Midnight

As disaster bears down on a rural California county, sordid truths about century-old crimes threaten a community in crisis . . .
Like much of rural California in 1985, Piñon County is on the brink of ecological and economic disaster. The forests are overgrown and frighteningly dry, the mill at the center of the community is closing, and real estate moguls plan to take full advantage. Furthermore, relationships are strained when historical records reveal shameful details about arson and murder committed in 1888 . . .
And as a wildfire bears down, the past and present collide, and this tight knit community desperately tries to cope with spousal abuse, racism, bigotry, adultery . . . and the imminent threat both to and from nature.
But who will survive to tell their tale, and who will fall victim to fate?
The Fire Bell Strikes at Midnight is a beautifully told and evocative novel rich in atmosphere, depicting devastating dangers to both the human spirit and the environment-while leaving us hopeful for the future by showing what love and friendship can do.

Shirley Freitas is a sixth generation Northern Californian whose life has been characterized by reading, writing, and rebellion. Her ancestors include gold rush pioneers and Dust Bowl refugees, small farmers and farm laborers, blue collar workers and a silent movie actress known for performing daredevil stunts on locomotives. Upholding the family tradition of not going to college, Shirley devoted herself to political activism for four decades in the San Francisco Bay Area. During that time she frequently wrote for community and women's movement newspapers and occasionally for California historical journals, putting her fiction writing on hold.
In recent years she moved across the country to upstate New York and created a website that examines episodes in recent U.S. history, with unique insights and unusual perspectives acquired from a lifetime of political struggles.
When not writing or attempting to satisfy every whim of her cats, she may be found reading, hiking, cooking, watching British mysteries, and avidly following her favorite sports teams.