The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
Grace and her two children find themselves homeless and penniless after a horrific fire scorches the coast of Maine in 1947, engulfing entire towns in its wake. Unable to find her husband, who has been out helping create a firebreak, she finds her way to her late mother-in-law’s home which has been left untouched. A young stranger, a musician, has found refuge there and becomes a temporary boarder.