The House Is On Fire

This book's blurb and beautiful cover art caught this Historical Fiction lover's eye. Based on the historic Richmond Theatre Fire, the story follows the lives of four characters whose lives are impacted by the devastating fire that occurred in Richmond, Virginia in 1811.

The story begins with vivid descriptions of the locale, era and the fire as Beanland incorporates themes of racism, sexism and class with four main characters who are marginalized in their own way. But as the story reaches the middle mark, the plot felt drawn out as it got bogged down with many extraneous secondary characters - many of whom were one-dimensional. 

I enjoyed the time period and learning about a new-to-me historical event. But despite its strong start, the tragic historical event it is set around and the resulting emotional reactions to the event, this story and its main characters fell flat for me and left me wanting a story with more depth and poignancy.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Rachel Beanland

Genre: Historical Fiction (USA)

Type and Source: Hardcover from public library

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada

First Published: April 4, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: The author of Florence Adler Swims Forever returns with a masterful work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night—told from the perspectives of four people whose actions during the inferno changed the course of history.

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 in 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 redemption.