6 Degrees of Separation: From The Arsonist to Prester John – 2nd March 2019

It’s the first Saturday of the month so it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation! Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees

This month’s starting book is The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper. Click on the title to read the book description on Goodreads or my review.

The Arsonist (a book I haven’t read) concerns the real-life hunt for the man responsible for starting fires in Australia on a scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday.  Fires by Tom Ward also concerns arson and the motivations of those responsible, in this case two disaffected teenagers.

The main character in Fires is called Guy and is a fireman which naturally makes me think of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 whose protagonist is Guy Montag. Indeed, in Fires, Guy’s wife, Eve, remarks “You reek of smoke…It’s coming from inside of you” echoing the scene in Fahrenheit 451 where Guy Montag is recognised because he smells of kerosene.

In Fahrenheit 451, firemen start fires rather than put them out in order to destroy a rather startling illegal commodity – printed books.   In Marcus Zusak’s much-loved novel, The Book Thief, its heroine, Liesel steals books including from Nazi book-burnings.

The backdrop to The Book Thief is the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. This is also the case in Monique Roy’s Across Great Divides.  A Jewish family seek refuge from persecution by escaping to South Africa. However, once there they become aware of the discrimination meted out to black South Africans through the apartheid system.

Historical crime mystery, No Ordinary Killing by Jeff Dawson, is also set in South Africa but in the period of the Boer War.  One reviewer described it as ‘an intriguing mix of John Buchan style adventuring and well researched period detail’ therefore I can’t pass up the opportunity to include a John Buchan book in my chain.

Prester John, written in 1910 and also set in South Africa, is a boy’s own adventure in which the young hero, David Crawfurd, finds himself involved in the fight against a massive native uprising led by a charismatic leader who has taken the title of the mythical priest-king, Prester John.

This month we’ve travelled from man-made conflagrations in Australia and elsewhere to incendiary events in South Africa.  Next month’s starting book is How To Be Both by Ali Smith.