Set in Pennsylvania in 1910, Mourning Doves After The Fire, is the story of a young woman, Abigail Whitman, who learns she has a cancer and her doctor seeks the aid of a renowned colleague who has apparently discovered an experimental treatment that has proven to eradicate cancer. During a camping trip, Abby befriends a young girl, named Madison, a talented pianist who shares with Abby an interest in classical music. This brief friendship will provide a dramatic change in Abby's life.

A subplot to the human story involves a female mourning dove, recently widowed and her bird neighbors who nest in the large oak tree near Abby's house. As the challenge and resolve of the human story develops so does the story of the birds as their own existence is constantly threatened and they serve as a witness to the human story as well as their own.

At 211 pages, the novel moves quickly and there are many interesting characters including Abby's neighbors Giny Kramer and her two sons, Michael and Eric; Henry Corrigan, the son of Abby's employer; Mrs. Haversham, a former school teacher; Ella Horn, a juvenile housebreaker and Zachariah, her grandfather; and finally the tragic figure of Ivanhoe Miller.

It is a story of love and loss, of passion and tragedy and of the triumph of the spirit in both man and beast.