His Last Fire

Overview

His Last Fire is historical fiction with a contemporary feel, meticulously researched, bursting with a rich and arcane vocabulary, and written in an engaging present. A stunning new voice emerges with these strange and gem-like stories that are a riot through the revolutionary alehouses, printshops, and pleasure-houses of late 18th-century London. Meet Jack Cockshutt, arsonist by trade, returning to rescue his victims and profit from their relief, finding the woman who just might save him. Meet the beauty who castigates her customers with passages from Paine's Rights of Man; the boy who raises the tricolor on the White Tower; the famous comic actor with his self-destructive craving for eel pies; and the laborer contracted to spend seven years locked up beneath a dilettante's country house. Meet Lappish women and glimpse into the picnic party of the Ottoman ambassador.

Reviews

"From free indirect discourse to wonderful imagery, Nathan lends her stories and creations a refreshing immediacy all too often lacking in historical works. . . . Nathan must be applauded on such a confident, learned and engaging debut collection." —Emma Whitney, New Welsh Review

Author Biography

Alix Nathan writes historical and contemporary short fiction and novels. Her novel, The Flight of Sarah Battle, comes out in 2015.