Fire, Deborah Challinor
Fire, Deborah Challinor
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Fire

Author: Deborah Challinor

Narrator: Heather Bolton

Unabridged: 9 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 03/30/2022

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

Set in an unnamed NZ city in 1953, Fire tells the story of four working class friends, all employed at Dawsons, one of the country's most glamorous and sophisticated department stores. An historical romance based on the Ballantynes Department Store Fire in 1947 that killed 41 people, most of them store employees trapped in controversial circumstances.
Set in an unnamed NZ city in 1953, Fire tells the story of four working class friends, all employed at Dawsons, one of the country's most glamorous and sophisticated department stores. The girls are Nancy, a salesgirl in the dress department, Kay who works in lingerie, Louise, a typist in Accounts and Judy, a milliner in the workroom out the back. The story takes place a week before Christmas, in the period leading up to Christmas as the country prepares for a Royal Visit by the young Queen Elizabeth. When the store is full of wealthy shoppers smoke is discovered drifting from the basement lift shaft. While the fire brigade is called, the store owners make a crucial error and decide not to raise a public alarm until it's too late - exits are cut off by the fire and the ground and first floors are ablaze, trapping staff and customers on the upper floors. A powerful and dramatic story from one of our best-selling novelists.

About Deborah Challinor

Deborah Challinor has a PhD in history and is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the Children of War series, the Convict Girls series, the Smuggler's Wife series and the Restless Years series. She has also written one young adult novel and two non-fiction books. In 2018, Deborah was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and historical research. She lives in New Zealand with her husband.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tyler on June 15, 2022

As with his other books, namely Earth Abides and Storm, Stewart's writing strength lies in his non-human characters. The immense pragmatism of this novel almost made me forget that it was fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.......more

Goodreads review by Jeremy on October 29, 2019

Very well plotted account of a fictional California wildfire from its tiny beginning through its height and eventual end. I found the descriptions of how fire works from a micro to a macro level fascinating. Some of the characterizations, especially of the female ranger, are pretty stereotypical for......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on August 18, 2014

Interesting story with drawn out and detailed descriptions of physical events including the large forest fire such that they seem to be characters, without acutal personification. A multi-page description of a minor (or even non-) character's death due to fire is one of the most interesting and abso......more

Goodreads review by Wherefore on February 01, 2025

Much has changed since Stewart wrote Fire. Climate change, that has intensified fires in California and Texas, for one. Also, firefighting techniques have improved a lot, we use water now. But more noticeably, a change in mentality about forest fires that would, if written today, never have produced......more

Goodreads review by John on November 03, 2024

George R. Stewart is famous for his non-fiction work regarding the origin of place names in America. He clearly has a deep appreciation for everything involving natural history and the best parts of Fire are those that describe the land, the flora and fauna, the overarching weather patterns that inf......more