Woodsburner

We all learned about Henry David Thoreau in high school English. His writings (Walden, Civil Disobedience) introduced us to a man with the courage of his convictions, devoted to a simple life in a natural environment, free from the tyranny of powerful government. It may come as a surprise to learn that his neighbors in Concord viewed the young Thoreau as something of an idler, or in his own words in this novel, a wastrel. First-time novelist John Pipkin draws on an obscure incident in Thoreau's life and uses it as the foundation for a panoramic view of the intellectual, civic, and social environment of mid-18th century New England. In the rain-deprived spring of 1844, Thoreau set fire to the parched woods near Concord. The conflagration destroyed nearly 300 acres of forest and came close to reaching the city. In addition to the intelligent but vacillating Thoreau, the author introduces us to a number of other well-drawn characters. Eliot is an aspiring playwright, who makes his living running a bookstore paid for by his wealthy father-in-law. Caleb is a fire-and-brimstone preacher who wants to build a new church on the outskirts of Concord. Oddmund is a hardworking and taciturn Norwegian immigrant in love with his employer's wife. Pipkin's descriptions of the raging fire are dramatic and realistic at the same time. His skillful writing places the reader squarely in the midst of the men desperately fighting to save their property. At the same time, he deftly explores the inner musings of his characters, making them into living, breathing people. I strongly recommend this novel to readers who appreciate literature and history. What a remarkable debut novel!

As a minister and a Unitarian Universalist I've occasionally felt "up to my eyeballs" in transcendentalists. I thoroughly enjoyed John Pipkin's refreshing glimpse of this uniquely American philosophical movement. I love irony, coincidence and playful synchronicity and this novel contains plenty. I found myself so engaged in the individual character's narratives I experienced a tangible pull when the story switched to another character. The conclusion of the book leaves you wanting more and wondering about the characters' futures. Alas,that cannot be avoided when an author does such a splendid job of connecting the reader to the subject. This novel manages to be gripping and amusing while inspiring reflection upon the human condition and perhaps even a bit of self-reflection. How lovely to run across a page turner with respect for our intelligence rather than insulting it.

Henry Thoreau defines his life by what he is not. Farms have eaten into the Concord Woods situated in the vicinity of Walden Pond. It is the last day of April and it has not rained since February. The fire theme is just one aspect of this wonderful novel, (although the fire in the woods forms a sort of backbone for the rest of plot). Stories of farming on the perphery of the woodlot, Emma Woburn, the farmer's wife, and Oddman, a helper on the farm, and the bookseller Eliot Calvert, Eliot Calvert of Boston, draw in the reader. One farmer, in a foreshadowing of difficulty to come, fails to offer aid to fight the fire since it is not on his property. This respose surprises Henry, a budding communitarian. Backgrounding the life of Emma Woburn is the Irish Famine. Her father's circumstances were dire. He purchased passage for her to America. Henry sees the fire from Fair Haven Hill. He notes the beauty of the scene. Eliot Calvert has a bookstore in Boston funded by his father-in-law. His house on Beacon Street was made possible by the same source. The profits from the bookstore have never sufficed to support the family's lifestyle. Caleb Downey, Unitarian minister, delivers uncompromising sermons. He has come to realize that he is more suited to visit the jail than to have a congregation. Caleb's harshness isolates him from his father. The father chides Caleb for being a formalist. He discovers he failed to forgive a hanged man who was innocent of the deeds under which he had been charged. Subsequent events will not be disclosed. Connections, causation, even the tenuous linking of people and events are concerns of the author in the construction of a rich array of incidents. Some of the forces portrayed in the book are supernatural. Pantheism is one of the forces. Fire is a dynamic system. Consequences of its existence cannot be predicted. The Author's Note presents the historical record of the fire. This is a mighty work, an accomplished work.

Only one year before the move to Walden Pond that would result in his literary masterpiece, Henry David Thoreau had a very different experience with the rustic environment near his Concord, Massachusetts home. In a careless attempt to start a cooking fire under unusually dry circumstances, Thoreau watched helplessly as a strong wind spread his small fire, and as almost 300 acres of the Concord Woods were destroyed. In fact, if not for the efforts of the townspeople, Concord itself might have burned to the ground. John Pipkin looks at this surprising incident from Henry David Thoreau's personal history through the eyes of Thoreau and several fictional characters in his strong debut novel, "Woodsburner. " In the process of creating a back-history for each of his main characters, Pipkin provides a revealing look at Massachusetts society of the 1840s and theorizes on how Thoreau's mistake heavily influenced the rest of his life and career. Pipkin uses three main characters other than Thoreau: Eliot Calvert, a bookstore owner who considers himself a budding playwright; Reverend Caleb Dowdy, a radical preacher who plans to build a new church in the Concord Woods; and Oddmund Hus, a simple Norwegian immigrant farmhand who works on one of the small farms surrounded by the woods. Surprisingly enough, this novel of almost 370 pages takes place in just one real-time day, beginning shortly before Thoreau and his friend, Edward Sherman Hoar, make the fatal decision to turn some of their fresh catch into fish chowder, and ending not long after the locals finally manage to control the runaway fire. Pipkin uses the bulk of his novel to illustrate the 1840s lifestyle by creating detailed backgrounds for his three main characters, each of whom has an interesting story worthy of its own novel. Circumstances bring Pipkin's characters together in a way, and at a pace, that allows the reader to gain a clear picture of Massachusetts life of the period at several different societal levels. The novel also offers insight into how Thoreau's budding environmental concerns were strengthened and focused by what happened to him and his friend in the Concord Woods that day - suggesting, perhaps, that tragedy oftentimes produces positive change.