Another man receives letters, strange and encoded, from his ex-wife, using their daughter, who stays for a month, as the messenger. These characters are often failures as lovers. Few of them have remained in one marriage for any length of time. They are friends, and good ones, however, as they lean on and support one another as best they can. Her character's conversations are non-sequitur, as they can only be in books.
People say light, bizarre and open and honest things in the space of a five minute chat.
Beattie manages them so that they feel real, as though if you had some interesting friends and sat down with them long enough, drank enough wine with them, you would have these kinds of conversations. Beattie has created short stories in The Burning House that are as different in their nuances as they are similar. Her prose is crackling with emotion, and no matter what you take from it, it is worth your while to take a seat in the kitchen of The Burning House.