Preview of Burning Summary:

The events in Burning all take place on a single day in Los Angeles, the day of the great Bel Air fire. But before the actual fire is so much as ignited, Johnson begins using it as her central metaphor in a novel that satirizes California's child welfare system, the drug scene, and above all the lifestyles of people living in Southern California.

Maxine ("Max") Gartman finds that her...