Fourteen-year-old Lucia Stanton lives with her elderly aunt in a converted garage in the grounds of a large house. With her deceased father’s zippo lighter in her pocket, she rides the bus to visit the mother who doesn’t recognise her in a psychiatric hospital, after which she goes to a bar to get drunk. Intelligent and nonconformist, Lucia adheres to a strict moral code; unfortunately it differs widely from the one followed by teachers and the cool kids at school. She hasn’t considered setting fires until, in detention one evening, she hears some students refer to a secret Arson Club.
When Lucia gets a copy of the arsonists’ pamphlet, she finds it “a bit long-winded. It was written by one of those anarchist types who want to prove that they could be university professors if they felt like it” (p108) and decides to write a better one of her own. Lucia is an endearing and witty teenage narrator, with good reason to be angry, who makes you want to rescue her from scrapheap before she graduates from a theoretical to a practical arsonist.
From the author of A Cure for Suicide, How to Set A Fire is an engaging and compassionate tale of loss, inequality and disaffected youth. The publishers – Text who provided my advance copy – describe it as Jesse Ball’s most accessible novel. Although I’d have liked to find out more about what happened to her parents (although I have my own hypothesis), it’s certainly worth giving it a chance.
So, how to combine that with the latest flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story that changes with a smile? Well, Charli is having the shit piled on her just as Lucia is, but she’s determined not to let that define her. While Charli wouldn’t take it as far as Lucia does, this is my tribute to the spirit of defiance in them both.
You won’t define me
Don’t do anything you’re not proud of, said her aunt, but it was tough to live up to when teachers and landlords didn’t play fair. She tried to be good, but the world didn’t notice. Didn’t care.
Wanna join the Sonar club? Lucia frowned. Why would she want to hang around with those losers? It’s an anagram, stupid! they said.
She fingered the lighter in her pocket. Her talisman, all that remained of her dad. Now it made sense that she always kept it close. An image of flames etched on her retina, she smiled.
While a smile might help some of us, do check out my post Smile please! for some reflections on what it’s like to be unable to smile, or go straight to my short story, “My Beautiful Smile”.
From the author of A Cure for Suicide, How to Set A Fire is an engaging and compassionate tale of loss, inequality and disaffected youth. The publishers – Text who provided my advance copy – describe it as Jesse Ball’s most accessible novel. Although I’d have liked to find out more about what happened to her parents (although I have my own hypothesis), it’s certainly worth giving it a chance.
So, how to combine that with the latest flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story that changes with a smile? Well, Charli is having the shit piled on her just as Lucia is, but she’s determined not to let that define her. While Charli wouldn’t take it as far as Lucia does, this is my tribute to the spirit of defiance in them both.
You won’t define me
Don’t do anything you’re not proud of, said her aunt, but it was tough to live up to when teachers and landlords didn’t play fair. She tried to be good, but the world didn’t notice. Didn’t care.
Wanna join the Sonar club? Lucia frowned. Why would she want to hang around with those losers? It’s an anagram, stupid! they said.
She fingered the lighter in her pocket. Her talisman, all that remained of her dad. Now it made sense that she always kept it close. An image of flames etched on her retina, she smiled.
While a smile might help some of us, do check out my post Smile please! for some reflections on what it’s like to be unable to smile, or go straight to my short story, “My Beautiful Smile”.
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