Three Kinds of Fire — John Peace

Sorrow - ignorance - longing - daring: these three short stories scoop up some of each, like a secret recipe of spices, and fling them into vivid locations. Paddling a canoe, or driving up into the mountains of a distant island in the ocean, or sharing a meal with a stranger: join in the search for three kinds of the human fire that burns in every breast.


In this collection the author takes us on three journeys. In one, a young man paddles off across the lake to escape the pain that's erupted in his family. But he discovers that the pain comes with him, and he must take an honest look at himself in order to deal with it. In the second, we join a traveller as he takes a day trip up into the mountains of an exotic island. In his attempt to visit a friend, he is invited in by a poor man living in a tiny stone hut. Can the outsider overcome his prejudice to see the man for who he really is, and hear his story? The final story is longer and imagines an English teacher in the Middle East who is challenged to live what he believes. A young woman who he's met only once has been kidnapped elsewhere in the country. Where will his daring take him?


'John writes engagingly on subjects that he understands well, his intimate knowledge of places he writes about help you to feel as if you are actually there.' - A.James