The Book of Fires

by Jane Borodale

Book Overview

"A spectacular debut" (Booklist) reminiscent of Geraldine Brook's Year of Wonders. It is 1752, and seventeen-year-old Agnes Trussel is pregnant with an unwanted child. Facing certain misery at home,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670021067
• ISBN13: 9780670021062
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.1" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Borodale deserves a celebration with fireworks for this book

gnes Trussel, a trusting young girl, is badly used by a forceful rogue in her home village, causing her to flee with a secret pregnancy and a neighbor's coins. She lands in London in the winter of 1752. The streets of the city are harsh, even for those accustomed to them, but for a 17-year-old unwed mother from the country, they can be nothing less than terrifying. On her way, Agnes meets Lettice Talbot, a beautiful woman not much older than herself. They happen to share a leg of Agnes's journey on the carriage from Sussex. Lettice offers Agnes hope, along with an address. But once they have disembarked, Agnes becomes lost in the maze of alleys and lanes, and the dawning of a dark panic starts to set in as night draws near. Just as she is about to give up, she spies a sign --- "J. Blacklock. Required - housekeeper for small household" --- and finds the courage to knock on the door. J. Blacklock looks her over and, saying little, hires her, but not as a housekeeper. He is in need of an assistant in his business as a maker of fireworks, and something about the small girl on his doorstep tells him that he may have found just the person he needs. He soon discovers he chose well, for Agnes shows a near-endless curiosity and a rare talent for pyrotechnics. She is frankly entranced, marveling at the art of it: "So fireworks are made by hand, in the same way as hurdles are, or pipes or horseshoes; they are not freakish works of nature nor of witchcraft, as I'd thought when I was little....I have heard how they are like fizzing, white blossoms, a cold kind of devil's fire." The problem lies with the child growing inside her. So far, Agnes has been able to keep her "condition" secret, but that will not last much longer. Unwed mothers were not looked kindly upon during that period in England's history. Agnes knows that her situation is growing more and more desperate. Thus, when one of Blacklock's material suppliers shows an interest in her, she tries to push it into a hasty proposal of marriage. Pushing her even more is the other household staff. They seem to be watching her, waiting for her to slip up. She fears that when they find out that she is pregnant, she will have no hope of continuing her position with Blacklock. But nothing is as it seems. Agnes has misjudged her suitor, her employer, and even the cook and the maid. And then there's Lettice Talbot, who finally turns up, only not as the person Agnes thought her to be. Author Jane Borodale surrounds her readers with all five senses vividly engaged as she unravels Agnes Trussel's story. London comes alive in her capable hands: the bustle of the street markets can almost be heard, and you can almost smell the rank odors of the rotting meats the vendors are hawking. You can almost see the dust from the cobblestones swirling in the wind, and you can almost feel the trickle of sweat running down your back on the hot, sticky summer days. As the author uses sensory details to draw you in, she also us

Illuminates a dark time...

Agnes Trussel doesn't have much too look forward to. The She's been raped by a neighborhood thug and, since the eyar is 1753, knows that she'll be beaten by her father and damned as a whore if word gets out. Worse, she's pregnant. Her dad is a drunk and her mother is completely wasted by years of churning out one baby after another. When an aged neighbor dies and Agnes stumbles upon her small cache of gold coins, she finds the means to escape and runs off to London. I love books that bring us right into other peoples houses, that show us what kind of furnishings they had, tell us something new about their dress and their food and their habits. The Book of Fires does this and thensome. It's a fascinating window into life in the mid-eighteenth century, from the villages around London to the city itself. London doesn't go easy on naive Agnes, who is nearly forced into prostitution and barely keeps herself out of the poorhouse before finding a trustworthy Londoner who gives her a job in his fireworks factory. John Blacklock, all the while fearing her two secrets will be revealed. London shares the spotlight with Agnes as the book's leading character. We get another amazingly detailed look at the hurly burly, the grit and the grime of the hub of the Empire. As Agnes begins her explosive apprenticeship, she becomes more and more interested in her employer, the enigmatic John Blacklock. Will Agnes' pregnancy be revealed? Will John turn her out into the streets? Can a woman succeed in the fireworks business? And what exactly is John hiding???? Saying more would spoil what turned out to be a good story on several levels. Read it for the glimpse into life in the Surrey countryside or on the teeming streets of London, read it to learn what life was like for women of the period, read it for the adventure and the romance. But do read it. It's a great book that practically begs for a comfortable chair, cup of tea, and warm blankey!

Riveting and Compelling

I fell in love with this book, and it's characters. As others have described the plot, I won't reiterate, but the way the book is written and the way characters are described makes it come alive and makes it very hard to put down, and very hard not to relate to the characters. Its plot is a very original idea that worked extraordinarily well, and I greatly enjoyed this book, I wished it was longer though, I wanted to know what happened to her after the story ended (perhaps a sequel?). I was surprised to learn this was the author's first work. I am looking forward to their future works.

Ends with a bang

The story of Agnes begins with her in a village and finding herself pregnant after being raped. Opportunity allows Agnes to come across some money and she's off to London. The major part of the book is the relationship of the man she meets in London and starts to work for-Mr. Blacklock. We follow their relationship and the ending is certainly a surprise. I liked the character Agnes because the author made her so believable. You're rooting for her the whole way through the novel. I can understand why some say it's slightly reminiscent of Girl with a Pearl Earring, but this novel is a phenomenal read in it's own. I certainly recommend this book. You'll keep turning pages from the first to the last just to see how Agnes deals with what's going on in her life. It is a very detailed novel. I did find myself at times skipping a sentence here or there when the author really got into a description. Most of the time though that was completely enjoyable and what allowed you to see how life really was for Agnes and how she thinks. You won't be sorry if you pick up this book.

An atmospheric debut lights up the historical fiction genre

Luminous prose, flawed characters, dark enigmas, and lightly detailed sentences: these factors shape the near-flawless, always fascinating story of debut writer Jane Borodale. Protagonist Agnes Trussel "arrives in London, pregnant with an unwanted child." This is an excellent way to begin a story - the reader wants to know the circumstances of the pregnancy, and the baby adds another dramatic dimension of tension to the narrative. The wording is dense and lush, expertly formed to transport the reader to 1752, where London is deemed gritty. The word usage is tactile, almost sensual in the care that is given in details. "I see some fingers wiped on an apron, someone carrying a brimming pot of something heavy up some steps and a squealing infant put to the breast." The story moves at a steady pace, never quite dipping or soaring over the melodramatic line. The ending is bittersweet, and it isn't until the novel's conclusion that it can be intuited that the 'fireworks' so carefully described in The Book of Fires are a larger metaphor for finding the light, the explosions inside of us that make us human. As fireworks illuminate a night sky, so do the fireworks inside of us that keep shadows and dark thoughts at bay.