1892.

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British
Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and author of The Salvation Army and the
Public.

The Great Fire that devastated the city of St. John’s on July 8, 1892, is remembered as the worst disaster ever to hit that great city. Nearly every building of note was destroyed, including the magnificent Anglican Cathedral; 12,000 people were left homeless; and the city suffered more than $13 million in damage. The facts of the event—the scenes of devastation—have been recounted often by both contemporary observers and historians—most recently by Paul Butler himself in St. John’s: City of Fire (2007). What has been largely missing, however, is the “personality” of the tragedy—the human involvement, anguish, terror, and, perhaps, heroism. Now Butler, in this brilliant fictional account, builds on the legend that the fire was started by Tommy Fitzpatrick who dropped his pipe in the hay in Tim O’Brien’s barn, and imagines the human fallibility (the possible love and rejection) that might (or might not—you judge) have played a role in the disaster.

Butler’s story is ingenious: the reciprocal narrations of Tommy and Kathleen create an authenticity of personality that lull us into full acceptance of their actions; they live and breathe the air of old St. John’s. More than that, Butler writes with such felicity, such a sure command of metaphor, and with such a lyrical style, that beyond the story itself there is much to savour and enjoy. Truly an exceptional writer, and a marvellous story.