Wind and Fire

Told through the eyes of a daughter searching for meaning in the ashes of her mother's life, Wind and Fire is a hauntingly intimate portrait of a woman who loved too hard, hurt too long, and left too soon.

Amira Grace Byers was only Six when her mother, Novalee, died by suicide. In the aftermath, Amira is left with questions no one can answer and memories that won't stop speaking. Determined to understand the woman who raised her-and to finally make peace with the pain she left behind
-Amira begins to write. What emerges is a breathtaking account of Novalee's life: a spirited Black girl with a too-big heart and too-little guidance, growing up in a world that mistook her tenderness for weakness. From her troubled teenage years filled with older men and whispered mistakes, to becoming a mother far too young, Novalee's story unfolds with raw beauty and quiet tragedy. Amira pieces it together not just from what she remembers, but from what was left unsaid-from journals, photographs, stories passed down, and the silence in between.
As Amira writes, she begins to heal. Wind and Fire becomes more than a memoir; it becomes a letter to her mother who wasn't able to save herself and a daughter still trying to forgive herself. Heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure, this story is a meditation on grief, generational trauma, young motherhood, and the legacy of love.