Woodsburner : a Novel

Patrick Sullivan - Library Journal: This is a powerfully rendered debut about an infamous moment in American literary history: Henry David Thoreau accidentally starting a massive fire that burned 300 acres of woods near Concord, MA, in 1844. Significantly, this happened just a year before Thoreau removed himself from society, built his cabin, and began work on his masterpiece, Walden. Pipkin does an excellent job of bringing the people and environs of historic Concord to life. There are three other major characters in the novel-an orphaned Norwegian farmhand, a Puritan-style preacher, and a bookseller and aspiring playwright-and each ends up influencing Thoreau in some significant way as they fight the fire together. All are skillfully drawn. The novel ends just days after the fire, with the young Thoreau humiliated and the people of Concord outraged, and Pipkin suggests that responsibility for this fire is what drove Thoreau into the woods and into deep reflection about nature, self-reliance, and living. A fascinating fictional exploration of a seminal American event.