Borodale's enjoyable debut is the story of Agnes Trussel, who, in 1752, leaves the poverty-stricken countryside for London, intent on hiding her unwanted pregnancy and making a better life. On her journey, she meets Lettice Talbot, a beautiful young woman who promises to help her, but when Agnes loses track of her benefactress, she ends up as the apprentice to Mr. Blacklock, a moody pyrotechnist who is mourning his dead wife as he attempts to bring color to fireworks. Despite her difficulties with Blacklock's other domestic staff, Agnes grows to feel at home in London and enjoys her work, but she is constantly threatened by the imminent exposure of her pregnancy and haunted by the guilt of her theft of the stash of coins that funded her trip. This menacing mood is Borodale's greatest achievement: from the omnipresent hangings to the economic knife-edge upon which the working class lives, she builds a dark but human world that makes Agnes's plight deeply sympathetic. When the story is neatly tied up with an unexpected resolution to Agnes's problems, it's surprising but not unbelievable, capping off a delightfully diverting book. (Jan - From Publishers Weekly)

Very interesting historical background, fluid narrative. Not compelling but interesting nonetheless.

If you found this book and enjoyed it why not take a few minutes to write what you thought about it?

released in the 1st sentence VBB

The book arrived safely in Delphi today! One more new author/book I discover through this awsome community that is BookCrossing!

Thank you very much for sharing!

First Sentence: There is a regular rasp of a blade on a stone as he sharpens the knives.

Well, I really wanted to like this book and I didn't disliked it, but it had potential to be much better.

The story could have been very interesting, but the characters never fleshed out and the plot was full of impossibilities, coincidences and things that didn't make sense. There is so much suspension of belief one can do while reading a book!

Furthermore, while this author writes beautifully at times, she often got too descriptive with irrelevant stuff, sacrificing the novel's pace and putting words in the mouth of the main character that made this character even more unconvincing than she is already sketched by her naivity, stupidity and non-sensical actions. Trying to fit fragments of various subjects such as politics, justice system, poverty, prostitution etc in the book by introducing weird characters, scenes and incidents, Jane Borodale only made the narration more irking and disjointed, rather than offering something to the plot or the flow of the story.

All in all, I enjoyed the main idea behind this novel, I appreciated the author's intentions, but as a whole I found the book averrage at best. I can't see how this was shortlisted for an award, surely there must be tons of more compelling options out there?

The Book of Fires is now on it way to meet the winner of the current Int RABCK Sweepstakes, along with an other cute book for variety!

Good Luck little book and Don't forget to write your news from time to time!

The book arrived today with its travelling companion. Both are new to me. Thank you.