The Fire Starters

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The Fire Starters is a magical realist novel by Jan Carson about two fathers in a burning Belfast who fear what their children may become, ideal for readers who enjoy family conflict and fantastical elements woven into recognisable political, domestic and social reality.

Synopsis
Dr Jonathan Murray fears his new-born daughter is not as harmless as she seems.

Sammy Agnew is wrestling with his dark past, and fears the violence in his blood lurks in his son, too.

The city is in flames and the authorities are losing control. As matters fall into frenzy, and as the lines between fantasy and truth, right and wrong, begin to blur, who will these two fathers choose to protect?

Dark, propulsive and thrillingly original, this tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice fizzes with magic and wonder.

Perfect for readers who like...

Magical realism grounded in modern-day Belfast.
Parent-child relationships shaped by fear, responsibility and inherited violence.
Fiction exploring Belfast’s communities, history and sectarian tensions.
Stories where magical and fantastical elements intrude on everyday reality.

Books like The Fire Starters

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin
The Raptures by Jan Carson

Themes and story elements

Fatherhood
Familial love and sacrifice
Sectarianism
Political memory
Inherited violence
Guilt and responsibility
Fantasy and reality

Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it.
Lisa McInerney

About Jan Carson

Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She has published three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections. Her novel The Fire Starters won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland 2019. Jan’s latest novel, The Raptures was published by Doubleday in early 2022 and was subsequently shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her short story collection Quickly, While They Still Have Horses was published by Doubleday (UK) in April 2024 and Scribner (US) in July 2024. Her writing has been aired on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and RTE.

She is the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast 2025 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her first stage play, an adaptation of the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit will be produced by Replay Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in March 2025. Her next novel, Few and Far Between is forthcoming in early 2026.

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