BURNING BRIGHT - Harper Collins

Flames and funerals, circus feats and seduction, neighbours and nakedness: Tracy Chevalier's new novel BURNING BRIGHT sparkles with drama.London 1792. The kellaways move from rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiing city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften.Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the pinter, poet and radical, William Blake.He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experince. Their journey influences one of Blake's most entrancing works.