Firestarter by Fraser Grace

Join author and playwright, Fraser Grace, as he launches his new book, Firestarter – a form-busting piece of creative non-fiction based on the true story of a nineteenth-century arsonist and national cause celebre.

Join in the celebrations at Hart’s Books for your chance to meet and chat with the author over a glass of wine. All welcome.

Wednesday 14th May, 6.30 – 8.00pm
Venue: Hart’s Books, 26 King Street, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 1ES
Tickets: Free, drop-in

Firestarter
by Fraser Grace

What John Stallon has learned is that to set a barn or hayrick alight needs surprisingly little effort. The spark from a flint, a bit of rag, barely the breath of a child…

1833. Four years, twelve fires, the best of London’s detectives – and still no one knows the identity of the ‘devil’ with the gift of fire. With land reform sweeping through South Cambridgeshire, the scandal is choking the columns of the nation’s newspapers, wrecking the reputation of the ‘ill-fated village’ of Shelford.

Something has to give.

Fraser Grace trawls through history, sifting out a tragedy rooted in the undocumented, hard-pressed agricultural labourers of nineteenth century England.

It will always be like this, John thinks, this new power of mine. Like having a firework in your head.

Firestarter is published by Galileo Publishing, on 1 May 2025.

Fraser Grace

Author, and up till now, playwright – this is his first prose work.

The story behind Firestarter

With an imminent stage production scuppered by lockdown, award-winning playwright Fraser Grace found himself without a theatre to write for. From this he turned to a long-held passion project – a local story from the village of Great Shelford in South Cambridgeshire where he has lived for 28 years.

Now published by Galileo, Firestarter is a form-busting piece of creative non-fiction based on the true story of a nineteenth-century arsonist and national cause celebre. For four years John Stallon outwitted the best detectives London could muster – but was finally hanged in Cambridge in 1833. It will always be like this, John thinks, this new power of mine. Like having a firework in your head.

About the Author

Winner of the Verity Bargate Award for his debut play Perpetua, Birmingham REP.

Winner of the Arts Council’s John Whiting Award for Best Play for Breakfast with Mugabe, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and directed by Antony Sher, broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and The World Service.

Nominated for Best Play in the Off-Broadway Awards when produced at the Signature Theatre, NYC (Two Planks Productions).

Author of ten plays in total, all published by Oberon/Methuen, and librettist for Don’t Breathe A Word, an opera by Andrew Lovett.

Co-Author of Playwriting – A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion, published by Bloomsbury in 2015, (series editors Carole Angier and Sally Cline).

Currently Senior Teaching Associate at the University of Cambridge, co-directing the Masters’ programme in Writing for Performance.

Also a performance poet – and loves meeting audiences.

If you’re not able to make the book launch at Hart’s Books you can still catch Fraser Grace discussing his book, Firestarter, at this free online Zoom event…

In Conversation with… Midge Gillies and Fraser Grace
Thursday 8th May, 7pm

Fraser Grace, co-director of ICE’s Master’s in Writing for Performance, will be in conversation with non-fiction writer and creative writing tutor Midge Gillies in this free Zoom event on Thursday, 8 May, 2025, 7-8pm, GMT.

Fraser is an award-winning playwright and author of ten plays and co-author of Playwriting – A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion. He will be talking about his first work of prose, Firestarter and what led him to turn for inspiration to a local story from the village of Great Shelford in South Cambridgeshire where he has lived for 28 years.

Firestarter is a form-busting piece of creative non-fiction based on the true story of a nineteenth-century arsonist and national cause célèbre.

Sign up for the free zoom event here.