ed to the wearisome life of Rachel Cameron. Rachel is an elementary school teacher in Manawaka, Manitoba where she balances an unfulfilling existence between personal problems and problems of friends and family. At the age of thirty-four she still resides with her widowed mother in a small apartment above a Funeral home. Rachel seems respectful towards her mother on the outside, but fights back the urge to challenge her from within. She experiences a streak of bad luck that convinces her to commit suicide. Luckily, her attempts to take her own life are weak and force her to search for an alternative solution to her problems. Rachel takes a different approach in solving her dilemma. She realizes that her problem is not with those around her, but with herself. Rachel begins soul-searching and strives to find her "true" identity. Gradually, she learns to be defenceless towards love, to take risks, and to even realize her own foolishness. On occasion, Rachel loses sight of her identity and begins to pity her miserable life. Situations like these always conclude with a reference to Stacey, her older sister who escaped Manawaka to be free on her own. Rachel's jealousy towards Stacey is briefly explained when readers glimpse into Stacey's seemingly carefree life through Rachel's eyes. Laurence uses this clever tactic to connect the story of Rachel in A Jest of God to Stacey in The Fire-Dwellers.
             It is the tale of The Fire-Dwellers, which sets Stacey's story straight. Rachel describes her sister as being a loving wife and mother, however in The Fire-Dwellers she is simply a heartbroken housewife who longs for a passion-driven life. She maintains a home in Vancouver, takes constant care of her four young children, helps her struggling salesperson husband, and deals with her bothersome father-in-law. Craving for a richer lifestyle, Stacey gambles her marriage and children in search of answers. Pr...