The House Is on Fire

By: Rachel Beanland

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Andi Arndt, Michael Crouch, Ruffin Prentiss III, Rachel Beanland

A “wildly entertaining” (NPR), “gripping” (The Washington Post) work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night, from the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever.

Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the long and arduous journey to the capital in hopes of whiling away the darkest days of the year. At the city’s only theater, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company puts on two plays a night to meet the demand of a populace that’s done looking for enlightenment at the front of a church.

On the night after Christmas, the theater is packed with more than six hundred holiday revelers. In the third-floor boxes sits newly widowed Sally Henry Campbell, who is glad for any opportunity to relive the happy times she shared with her husband. One floor away, in the colored gallery, Cecily Patterson doesn’t give a whit about the play but is grateful for a four-hour reprieve from a life that has recently gone from bad to worse. Backstage, young stagehand Jack Gibson hopes that, if he can impress the theater’s managers, he’ll be offered a permanent job with the company. And on the other side of town, blacksmith Gilbert Hunt dreams of one day being able to bring his wife to the theater, but he’ll have to buy her freedom first.

When the theater goes up in flames in the middle of the performance, Sally, Cecily, Jack, and Gilbert make a series of split-second decisions that will not only affect their own lives but those of countless others. And in the days following the fire, as news of the disaster spreads across the United States, the paths of these four people will become forever intertwined.

Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is on Fire is a “stunning” (Jeannette Walls, New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle), “all-consuming exploration” (E! News) that offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.

Critic reviews

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick – An NPR Best Book of 2023 – A New Yorker Best Book of 2023

"Beanland's audiobook is perfect for a full-cast production, and its strong performances are consistently gripping...These excellent performances enhance this riveting story of tragedy, systemic racism, and sexism."

Historical facts

I Loved the way history and fiction come
together to make this a great book.

Great historically inspired fiction

Love the historical aspects and inspiration of the story. My only complaint is the uneven audio/narration of some chapters. There are moments when characters are meant to be yelling/talking loudly while addressing the crowd, and the volume gets very loud. If you adjust the volume for those moment, the next lines of narration are so quiet, you can't hear the. The story itself is inticing, and love how the multiple POVs relate to each other and stories overlap.

An interesting story of a tragic event.

A captivating well told story, which allows one to easily imagine the hardships of slaves as well as the second class treatment of women.

Good for Historical fiction fans

I really enjoyed the story which had many factual parts to it. I appreciate the offer took her time to explain the parts that she retreat from historical books as well as where she took liberties. And I always love a good heroine story!!!

Excellent Historical Fiction

Enjoyable!i highly recommend this book. The readers are easy to listen to. The author provides the history.