Cassie Hanwell

Cassie Hanwell is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. The entire novel is told from Cassie’s perspective. Cassie is 26 years old and works as a firefighter. She is passionate about her work and is extremely skilled at it. At the beginning of the novel, she is one of the best firefighters in the entirety of the Austin, Texas fire department. However, she has a chance encounter with a man who raped her ten years prior. Cassie has been averse to romantic/sexual intimacy ever since that traumatic experience. The rapist is now a city councilman, and when he gropes her in public, Cassie beats him severely. Rather than apologize to the man, she accepts a transfer to a small fire department in Lillian, Massachusetts.

While working in Lillian, Cassie faces some misogyny as expressed by the male firefighters; she is the first female firefighter in the...