PRAISE FOR THE BOOK OF FIRES
‘Jane Borodale displays a deft touch in this very pleasing story.’
Telegraph
‘Spectacular debut … a fresh and fascinating investigation into the art and science of pyrotechnics.’
Booklist
‘A delightfully diverting book. Borodale builds a dark but human world that makes Agnes’s plight deeply sympathetic.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Borodale deftly conjures up mid-eighteenth-century London in her spectacular debut. …The story that unfolds is also a fresh and fascinating investigation into the art and the science of pyrotechnics. Readers who loved Jane Eyre will appreciate the atmosphere of tension and foreboding that permeates the narrative.’
—Booklist
‘Jane Borodale writes historical fiction with a twist in the tale, without sentimentality. Agnes Trussel is a heroine armed only with doggedness, ingenuity, and desperation, who marches toward her future with an intrepid spirit. An engrossing story.’
—Karleen Koen, bestselling author of Through a Glass Darkly and Now Face to Face
‘A delightfully diverting book. Borodale builds a dark but human world that makes Agnes’s plight deeply sympathetic.’
—Publishers Weekly
Read the full review
‘Jane Borodale’s captivating debut novel carried me back to a world where even strong young women had few options. Her astonishing descriptions of 18th-century England, the creation of fireworks, and the brave and determined Agnes held me happily captive there for days, and, even now, have not released their hold on me. Agnes Trussel is sure to become one of 21st-century literature’s most enduring characters.’
—Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader
‘Whether in evoking rural Sussex at a time of change or the precariousness of life in the metropolis, Jane Borodale displays a deft touch in this very pleasing story.’
—Telegraph (UK)
‘Jane Borodale has a way with words that had me smelling the foul streets of 18th-century London and tasting the strange powders that went into making John Blacklock’s fireworks. The story of the apprentice Agnes learning from the master Blacklock is reminiscent of The Girl with the Pearl Earring.’
—Anne Easter Smith, author of A Rose for the Crown and The King’s Grace
‘Jane Borodale’s first novel contains a wondrous and utterly believable world built by the subtle accretion of precise detail. Young Agnes Trussel is a clever and innocent heroine. I found myself cheering when, by the end, she—and the very novel that contains her story—burst into new and luminous life.’
—Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton
‘Borodale’s refreshingly original approach and engaging style makes ‘The Book of Fires’ a welcome addition to the historical fiction genre.’
—Yorkshire Evening Post
‘A dark atmospheric novel from a fantastic new voice in fiction.’
—Bury Free Press, Book of the Week
‘This author’s debut excels in its portrayal of the lot of the 18th-century underclass, of the development of the dark art of pyrotechny and of the swift and usually harsh treatment of those whose sole crime was that of poverty! This ‘Book of Fireworks’ really works and it sparkles along at a fizzingly glorious pace. Literary pyrotechnics on a grand scale.’
—Lady
‘promising debut.’
—Kirkus
‘layered narrative that moves toward a striking finish. The Book of Fires is a
quietly beautiful novel. Borodale’s elegant use of language and inventive storytelling captures the tale of a young woman smoldering with desire for a life painted with vivid colors.’
—BookPage