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Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:A masterful and "gripping" (The Washington Post) work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night, from the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever. One of The Washington Post's Most Anticipated Books of April E! News: "12 Books to Add to Your Reading List in April" AARP: "43 of Our Favorite New Books for Spring" Goodreads: "Readers' Most Anticipated Books for Spring" BookBub: "The Best Historical Fiction of Spring" Richmond, Virginia 1811. It's the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia's gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the long and arduous journey to the capital in hopes of whiling away the darkest days of the year. At the city's only theater, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company puts on two plays a night to meet the demand of a populace that's done looking for enlightenment at the front of a church. On the night after Christmas, the theater is packed with more than six hundred holiday revelers. In the third-floor boxes, sits newly-widowed Sally Henry Campbell, who is glad for any opportunity to relive the happy times she shared with her husband. One floor away, in the colored gallery, Cecily Patterson doesn't give a whit about the play but is grateful for a four-hour reprieve from a life that has recently gone from bad to worse. Backstage, young stagehand Jack Gibson hopes that, if he can impress the theater's managers, he'll be offered a permanent job with the company. And on the other side of town, blacksmith Gilbert Hunt dreams of one day being able to bring his wife to the theater, but he'll have to buy her freedom first. When the theater goes up in flames in the middle of the performance, Sally, Cecily, Jack, and Gilbert make a series of split-second decisions that will not only affect their own lives but those of countless others. And in the days following the fire, as news of the disaster spreads across the United States, the paths of these four people will become forever intertwined. Based on the true story of Richmond's theater fire, The House Is on Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious�??and fleeting�??chances at redem… (more)
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There is Sally, a young widow, who
The characters grapple with moral choices. During the conflagration, there are those who help others to get out and those who abandon family to save their own lives. Those who rescue victims and those who watch. Those who take responsibility for their actions and those who blame others.
Why does Sally continue to be surprised by the depravity of men? Perhaps because so much has been made of their civility? (…) These men have no consciences.
from The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland
Rachel Beanland doesn’t shrug away from the brutal truth of slavery. Gilbert’s second master enjoys his power, patrolling at night for slaves without a pass and runaways. Gilbert’s niece Cecily is abused by her master’s son, just as the master abused her mother. The slaves are easy targets for blame. Then, there is the free black healer, who identifies as Native American, who generously takes in victims of the fire, black and white.
The vivid writing of the disaster was disturbing, recalling 9-11. Bodies falling from second story windows, people stumbling out of the theater covered in white ash. Family members franticly searching for the missing. The burnt remains unidentifiable. A mass grave. In 1811, a broken bone meant amputation or gangrene. There were no DNA or dental records to identify bodies.
Jack’s Greek was never very good, but he remembers a bit of Aristotle, who was so concerned with the virtue of man. Virtue means doing the right thing, in relation to the right person, at the right time, to the right extent, in the right manner, and for the right purpose.
from The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland
As thrilling a read as this is, with wonderful characters, what impressed me most about the novel is the character’s moral corruption or growth. It also shows how slavery distorted the conscience of men with too much power, while often the least powerful, the women and the slaves, display the most compassion and selflessness.
Thank you to Book Club Favorites' and Simon and Schuster for a free book.
But it’s more than that. This
Rachel Beanland tells the stories of four actual people who survived the fire. Gilbert is a slave, who is also a hero the night of the fire. Cecily is Gilbert’s niece. Sally is a white woman who escaped the fire but only after helping others when men wouldn’t. And Jack is a young theater hand, just a boy.
In telling their stories, Beanland creates a thriller when she explores possibilities. Who is responsible for the fire? Also, couldn’t a slave who was at the theater that night have escaped but just be counted as one of the dead?
I often find historical fiction to be dull. But in the case of THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE, I found a page turner.
The fire and its aftermath impact the lives of these individuals in different ways. Sally is drawn into helping the injured who have managed to escape the fire; Jack becomes an unwilling participant in an attempt to place the blame for the fire on slaves; Cecily makes a bold decision; and Gilbert's actions in the rescue make him an inadvertent hero (which doesn't sit well with his master).
The tragedy allows for exploration of the complex dynamics of relationships between owners and enslaved people; between men and women; between the "upper crust" of society and those deemed "lower class."
I had never heard of the Richmond Theater Fire of 1811, but at the time, it was the deadliest disaster in our young nation's history. As the author brings the characters onto the scene, we are shown the labyrinthine and crowded nature of the theater, and can see the disaster in the making. The aftermath is filled with conflict, as well as some righteous anger at those who escaped at others' expense.
The author's note at the end is important reading, as it gives the reader a clearer understanding of what aspects of the book are historical fact, and in what areas the author was relying on imagination based on the historic events.
I was slow to get into the story, but as I approached the end, I found myself quite invested in the outcome.
In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.
This was a well written and engaging book. I had a hard time putting it down! This is definitely storytelling at its finest! The plot moved along at a quick pace, and the characters were dynamic and multi-dimensional. I can't wait to read more from this author. Overall, highly recommended.
Premise/plot: Historical fiction set in Richmond, Virginia, in December 1811. This historical novel based on a true historical event--the 1811 Richmond Theater fire--and features some historical figures. It has four alternating narrators: Sally Campbell (the daughter of Patrick Henry and widow of Robert Campbell); Gilbert Hunt, an enslaved man who rescued dozens of women from the fire by catching them (they were being tossed/thrown out of a third-story window); Cecily, a slave of the Price family (whom is being sexually assaulted by her own half-brother Elliott Price); and Jack Gibson, a young stagehand just getting into show business.
The theater fire occurred on December 26, 1811. The book chronicles the immediate aftermath from these four perspectives.
My thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this one. Is it perfectly perfect? Probably not. Did I find it incredibly intense and super-compelling? YES. A million times yes. It was torture to keep reading. It was torture to stop. I'll try to explain. This book NEEDED the freezer. The part about the fire itself was terrifying and scary. SO horrifying. I had to know what happened but I was worried about what might happen. The aftermath was perhaps a little less intense, but it was fascinating as well. Cecily and Gilbert's story stayed INTENSE.
I loved all four narrators. All the characters were well written. Even the ones I didn't really "like" all that much. I would definitely recommend this one.
This is a story not be missed by a very talented writer. Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy.
On 12/26, the theater is filled with patrons, both white and black,
The book highlights Sally, a recent widow, Cecily, a slave whose master's son, takes advantage of her, Jack, the stagehand, and Gilbert, a blacksmith slave. Their fate is dependent on the decisions each makes as they try to escape the fire.
I loved how Beanland wove these stories together while highlighting the fates of slaves vs. owners = and the decisions and help people gave to one another.
Great book.
Jack Gibson, a young orphan who worked backstage
Gilbert Hunt, a blacksmith and a real person, was not in attendance but rushed to the scene to help save others from the burning building, catching women who jumped from the windows. Although he had purchased his own freedom by 1811, for the purpose of her story, Beanland makes him slave to a blacksmith who is trying to purchase his and his wife's freedom.
Gilbert's niece Cecily (fictional), also a slave, attended the performance with her mistress but escaped because the gallery where blacks were seated was close to an exit. When Cecily doesn't return home, she is presumed to have died in the fire . . . but she has other plans.
Sally Henry Campbell, a widow and daughter of Patrick Henry, helps other women to escape through a second floor window and jumps to safety herself. Afterwards, she questions why most of the victims were women and claims that she had seen men shoving them aside in order to get out first. So much for chivalry! Sally helps attend to injured persons, including her dearest friend, who suffers a potentially fatal leg fracture. (In real life, Sally ended up marrying the man who caught her when she jumped.)
Beanland does a good job of creating suspense and interweaving these characters' stories. Some things are a bit stretched and some side characters are stale stereotypes, but overall, this was an interesting read, and I learned a lot about an event that I had not heard of before.
This novel is based on a true historical event. The alternating points of view are engrossing and enables readers to see how this catastrophe touched the lives of so many people in Richmond at that time. The story moves at a brisk pace, and it is fascinating to see how the lives of the main characters entwine, despite most of them having nothing in common with the others.
This novel is about a true, tragic event that occurred in 1811, in Richmond, Virginia. When the only theater went up in flames, many people were killed,
In the early part of the 19th century, slavery was still acceptable by many, racism was alive and well, women had no standing in the community without their husband’s consent, and the men were basically in charge of all affairs, financial and personal. Thus, the author has focused on the shortcomings of the country regarding these issues as she explores this incident. Of course, there are no living survivors, so she relies on the little documentation that exists to develop her story. She has done a fine job exposing the injustices toward slaves, women and even, in one slight referral, to Jewish people. The biases that existed then, are alive and well today, however, in bright color, regarding Jewish people, and sadly, a lot of the bias and hate is coming from the very same people who objected to their own incarceration as slaves. To me, they seem to have a bit of tunnel vision today, often exacerbated by some authors who insist on ignoring the racial bias from all sides.
Still, this book is not about that, it is about a tragedy that occurred because of incompetence, arrogance and ignorance. It is about an attempted cover-up and need to blame it on a vulnerable, innocent community of slaves. The author shows that criminal behavior perfectly. She also shows that there were men who knew what was right from wrong and eventually came around to seeing it, but also showed that the people in command were blind to that observation and only wanted to protect themselves. Greed and the need for personal reward rears its head often.
The book shines a light on the state of the country then, and the state of the country now, which is not that much better regarding the respect of the rights of others. It seems respecting our own personal need is taking precedent over right and wrong in almost every area of American life today, with unjust bullying of innocent people, white and black, men and women, politicians and ordinary citizens, supporting lies over truth and honor to accomplish the same political goals then as now; the goal still seems to be that of ultimate power over others to pursue personal agendas not necessarily good for the entire country, but rather for a segment of the population that possibly is not qualified to have it, but is in charge politically.
There are four characters featured in the book. Cecily is a slave of mixed race, the product of an owner and her own mother. Cecily is now being sexually abused by the owner’s son Elliott. She is hoping to be presumed dead in the devastating fire, facilitating her escape to freedom. Gilbert is her uncle. He is attempting to save his money to buy his own freedom. The night of the fire, he was an unsung hero because of his race. His boss resented his heroism since it took time away from his work. Gilbert is a principled man; his boss is not. Jack is a teenage actor who appears to be responsible for the fire and the deaths of so many, mostly women, since men had the advantage of better access to exits; he wants to do the right thing, but his boss wants him to lie and to protect the company and other actors from prosecution. Jack is principled, but his boss and fellow workers are not. When threatened, he acquiesces completely until he sees the unjust results of his actions. Sally is a widow from a privileged class who has lost the large respect of the community because there is no man in her life any longer. The influence and power she once had has been marginalized, but she uses her maiden name in some instances to afford her a well-deserved advantage. She rails against the injustices done to women. All four tell their stories in alternate voices to give a picture of the times with authenticity from both a black and white point of view, and a privileged and underprivileged point of view.
The fire exposes the horrible brutality of slavery and the people who supported it, the arrogance of some men when it came to their power over women, and a government and justice system completely blind to the issues at hand, that contrived to keep that very system in power. It makes one wonder about how so much has changed and so much has remained the same in the world we live in today.
People are still falsely accused and found guilty by corrupt juries and judges. Incompetence is not punished, but is rewarded today in the interest of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a recipe for disaster, though viewed with a different lens in each circumstance from then to now and encouraged by the political power currently in place.
So, the book has profound ideas that must be considered thoroughly, but may be treated more lightly by book groups intent on their own political interests, instead. Who is guilty? Who is innocent? How do we determine that, with facts or personal need? If machinery is not repaired, who is at fault, the owner or the person using it? If you are afraid of being caught, is it moral to point fingers at those you deem to be “less than” yourself? When is it all right to lie to protect the guilty? Is it ever all right to distort the facts for one’s own benefit? These and other moral and ethical questions must be explored in all avenues of our life today. If we are to enter the future realistically and with moral courage, we must understand how we even got here to this state of willful blindness.