A FIELD OFSMALL FIRES
A Field of Small Fires
A novel
In a rain-starved market town, teacher Ada Bell opens a storytelling evening in an idle field — and week by week sees her neighbours begin to mend one another.
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The Plot
In a rain-starved market town, teacher Ada Bell opens a storytelling evening in an idle field — and week by week sees her neighbours begin to mend one another.
Kind, shrewd, and softly luminous, A Field of Small Fires honours the children we bring up, the elders we pass by, and the prospects we sow in barren soil.
In This Edition
- Every tale from Ada’s circle, assembled as an appendix.
- An opening piece on country libraries and the rooms that rescue towns.
- Study and circle guides for readers of any age.
An Excerpt
Ada ferried three lamps and a patchwork quilt to the field that opening Thursday, resolving that should nobody arrive she would sit out the dark and name it a rehearsal. By eight stood eleven neighbours, two dogs and a mouth organ, and the field — six years untilled — possessed an audience once more.
| Format | Hardcover, 320 pages |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Alder & Wren Books |
| Published | 2017 |
| ISBN | 978-1-64729-004-8 |
Critical Voices
“Kind but never sentimental — a large-hearted, generous book.”— Granta
“That uncommon novel which makes hope feel deserved.”— The New Yorker
