Fuel of Fire

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - Romance, Fantasy Fiction

Authors: Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler In Year : 1902

Book Language: English

Audiobook: Fuel of Fire

Prologue
Chapter I. The Burtons
Chapter II. Baxendale Hall
Chapter III. Laurence Baxendale
Chapter IV. Mrs. Candy
Chapter V. Anthony's suggestion
Chapter VI. Rufus Webb
Chapter VII. A woman tempts
Chapter VIII. The course of true love
Chapter IX. Another woman tempts
Chapter X. Mrs. Candy's holiday
Chapter XI. The burning of Baxendale
Chapter XII. Suspicion
Chapter XIII. The losing of the keys
Chapter XIV. The finding of the keys
Chapter XV. In the lanes
Chapter XVI. Mrs. Candy's opinion
Chapter XVII. Vain oblations
Chapter XVIII. Wedding bells
Chapter XIX. Winter days
Chapter XX. To what purpose ?
Chapter XXI. Lady Alicia
Chapter XXII. The lanes again
Chapter XXIII. The professor's visit

"Then was there war in the house of Baxendale. Guy had made up his mind to wed the fair daughter of the forester; while Sir Stephen and Dame Alice his wife had made up their minds — with equal firmness — that no son of their noble name should mate with a daughter of the people". A rumor started that the girl was a witch and so she was burned. However before she was burned she cursed the family who condemned her:
"First by the King, and then by the State,
And thirdly by that which is thrice as great
As these, and a thousandfold stronger and higher
Shall Baxendale Hall be made fuel of fire".
Ever since, the Baxendales cannot be truly happy, for they cannot have true love. What is life without love? They do their duty, rule over the land, but cannot be happy. Can the curse be lifted? Can a Baxendale experience true love?
This book is a protest against the prominent view of marriage at the time. Against the values of ambition and duty, and of course against social class. It offers a new way to look at marriage, the modern way of true love. A year after publishing this novel, the author, a daughter of a viscount, would marry a senior teacher at a navy school. Not someone from her own class. However the marriage was described as very happy. - Summary from the book's prolog with additions by Stav Nisser.