Kristin Hannah’s first novel since her runaway bestseller The Women is coming in 2027.
St. Martin’s will publish The Fire next spring, Elle reports. The press calls the novel “an exploration of the bonds between women and the transformative power of finding one’s voice.”
Hannah made her literary debut in 1991 with A Handful of Heaven and had her breakthrough hit with the 2008 novel Firefly Lane. In 2015, she published The Nightingale, a World War II novel that became a bestseller; a film adaptation starring Dakota and Elle Fanning is scheduled for release next March. Her most recent novel, The Women, was published in 2024.
St. Martin’s says The Fire will follow Merritt Locke, a woman who, in the wake of a public betrayal, embarks on a cross-country road trip in order to repair her relationship with her estranged daughter.
“An epic novel that reckons with the history we are all living through, The Fire is an anthem to those who feel invisible and forgotten and a rallying cry for women of every age to stand together to be seen…and heard,” the press says.
Hannah told Elle, “The genesis was really looking at my world and my friends and the issues that we were facing and dealing with, and the sort of realization that sometimes the challenges presented in ordinary life can be every bit as disruptive and difficult as the historical times that I’ve been writing about.”
The Fire is slated for publication on May 4, 2027.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
