Aithne is a child prodigy, a natural born artist from a very young age, who paints images based on stories told to her by God. Until one day, God stops sharing, sparking a crisis of faith. Aithne is left with no faith in herself or her abilities independent of God’s direct inspiration and she doesn’t know what to do with herself if she isn’t God’s little artist. When she’s arrested and thrown in lock-up, she finds a surprising kindred spirit in her cell neighbour, going through his own crisis of faith in his chosen career.

A Little Fire is a mixed bag. The prison scenes and connection between Aithne and Roy were well-realized and engaging, but those between Aithne and her father felt stilted and chichéd without adding much to move the story forward in a way that justified their length. The scenes with the homeless woman were more affecting than those with the father, they at least felt more important to Aithne learning about herself (and not just the audience learning about her), but it was still the scenes in the prison and those interactions and storytelling that were the most compelling and left me feeling: more of this please. Read the full review.