Fire!

Without wishing to dismiss children's books which express religious commitment, I must say that this one demonstrates the extreme difficulty of writing a good story with one hand while beating an evangelical tambourine with the other.

In the early chapters, the author provides a skilfully harrowing depiction of the agonies suffered by an asthmatic and neurotic little girl who, in search of her lost father, is guided by two phantom cats. However, when Jesus is brought into the narrative, the tension slackens and a complacent lachrymosity takes over. After all, if problems are to be solved from on high, what do the vicissitudes of plot matter? However, Ms Heelley has made an interesting and highly unfashionable attempt to integrate religious sentiment with psychological fiction, and for this reason the book deserves attention.