Fire Angels

by Joseph Richardson

FIRE ANGELS follows the lives of David and Sara Cooper and their son, Noble, from 1915-1925, years made difficult by financial hardship, separation during World War I, and tragedy brought on by the infuenza epidemic of 1918. The Coopers live on a subsistence farm outside the small town, Walako, Florida and David works in a feed store owned by German immigrant, Wilhelm Strow.Tension rises against Strow when the U.S. declares was against Germany. Hardware store owner Sid Guthrie has developed power in the town by intmidation and violence and is suspected of lying about his military service and his envolvement in local crimes. Young Noble and his black playmate and mentor,"Little Jack" Harris play key roles in solving the murder of the local sheriff and the lynching of a close neighbor.

Genres: Historical Fiction

505 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2009

Reviews

[Amie Kendrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, as it is set in an area where I currently live in Florida! Very well written, although many of the families in it endure unimaginable tragedies. Glad to have run across it!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! The author leads the reader easily through the time sequences very smoothly. The characters are believable and their experiences touch the readers heart. The scenes during the war years are graphic and true to history. The prejudices, hateful treatment, fear, and also the love, understanding and forgiveness among the people of a small southern town are powerfully written. The explosive ending compels the reader to go back to the beginning and reread the prologue...and then the story can come to a final ending.

I do not like to use spoilers in my book reviews. This sometimes makes it a bit difficult to express my perceptions of key scenes in the novel. In my opinion “Fire Angels” is comparable to the books “Cold Mountain” or “Legends of the Fall”. The story is filled with human emotion, which manifests as good and evil among families, communities, and nations.

The story spans the years of January, 1917 through approximately 1921. The time of political change worldwide is being felt as the United States is drawn into war with Germany in France. Currently on the home front the United States still has not resolved the racial segregation and treatment for the population of America's Negro or Black population. *In the book, the use of offensive name-calling for the German immigrants and the Black Americans is true to the authenticity of some of the characters and the times...but not meant by the authors as a current acceptance of this objectionable behavior.

The first scene opens as Sara Baird Cooper is giving birth to her first child in her home as her husband David Adrian Cooper sits in front of the fireplace worrying. The baby is coming two weeks early and Sara has been struggling for more than five hours with the help of a neighbor/midwife, Cora Harris.
Finally baby boy Cooper is born and his estimated weight is about eight pounds. The little family is very happy and Cora sends her husband, Jack to town, Walako, Florida, to let Sara’s mother and father know the baby has arrived. Sara wants to name the baby after David, but he asks if the little one can be named for his best friend who had drowned years ago. So, baby boy Cooper is named Noble Adrian Cooper...who will years later be pivotal in a turn of major events for helping to bring peace and justice to the people in Walako.

As news of war draws near, David realizes he may be separated from his precious family for weeks or months. The idea that he might die in a cold, muddy trench near some French town is on his mind. Sara demonstrates her strength as she prepares for the possibility of David being away. She has decided to learn to drive their contrary truck which she calls Old Brutus. She lets David know there will be a day when she can drive, and vote and even have a beer and smoke a cigarette if she wants to! She embraces the possibilities of what women should and could do...not what women are not allowed to do.

War is declared on April 6, 1917. The sentiments in the little town turn mean toward David’s employer, Mr. Strow, a German immigrant who became an American citizen. The terrorism which is inflicted on him and his business is deplorable. It worries David and a few of the honest men of Walako silently try to protect Mr. Strow. Later there will be “Poetic justice” for Mr. Wilhelm Strow.

Sept. 8, 1917 begins the first of the letters between David and Sara as he is called away for service. The letters are tender and filled hope for each other...leaving the terrible worries and fears unwritten.

The town bully, Sydney (Sid) Guthrie makes life miserable for so many during the years. As you read further in the book, it is disturbing at how devious he is and how he tries to impose his selfish will on the men and women of Walako. He is attracted to Sara, and tries to force his wicked actions on her. As a mystery man comes to her aid, Guthrie gets a shock. It only serves to make him more obstinate to have his way and to make trouble for other innocent people.

David must use all his will and strength to endure some of the experiences during the war. The sights and smells of the battles. The hunger, cold, and exhaustion seems only bearable because his close friend Robert Love from Walako is with him. They encourage each other, try to protect each other, and only one will walk away from the battlefield.

There are so many scenes of distinction in the story. Changes in Walako and the people whose lives are forever changed because of the war and the great sweeping influenza. Also in France during the war, you feel you become a part of the suffering of the men and how they want the war and fighting to be over.

There are scenes of encouragement, friendship, and surprise as you read more and more. Out of the desperate events which happen to some of the people, you will find a ray of hope and goodness breaking through.

[Martha Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire Angels is an intimate portrait of life in a small Florida town during World War I. Life in Walaka, FL is seen through the eyes of David Cooper, a young man whose family has managed to eke out a living from a small farm for a couple of generations. David lost his mother to influenza when he was only ten and his younger brother died two years later from blood poisoning. After that, David’s father lost himself in a bottle of liquor until his death when David was only 17. At that time, David quit school to work the land, hoping to keep it and feed himself, while working part time at the general store owned by German born Mr. Wilhelm Strow. David falls in love, as do most young men and marries sweet and lovely Sara, the daughter of the town’s optometrist.
David and Sara’s son is born a bit early and the midwife in attendance is Cora, a competent black woman from down the road. Her husband runs to town to tell the news to Sara’s parents. Her father is a reasonable man without the racial bias so prevalent in the South at the time but her mother is horrified that her daughter was cared for by a nigger woman and that her grandson is in her care. Sara’s mother is not the only person with a strong racial bias against blacks, and over the course of the book more prejudice and hatred are revealed, particularly in the person of Sidney Guthrie, the local hardware store owner. His hatred of blacks, Germans and anyone not a white Anglo-Saxon protestant man is extreme and pertinent to the story.
David Cooper serves in the local chapter of the National Guard and when President Wilson declares war on Germany, it is apparent that his unit will be called to fight abroad. The incredible horrors of war are documented through David’s eyes, as he watched friends die horribly. When he returns home, the horrors still haunt him, but his most challenging problem is how to deal with Sara and their young son, now developmentally damaged from the high fevers of the influenza that almost killed Sara and the baby while David was gone.
David must make peace with his own prejudice and with the hatred and fears still haunting him from the war. When the pervasive racial prejudice leads to the lynching death of his friend and neighbor, David knows that things must change and that all Americans, naturalized and black deserve to live free of persecution. Oddly enough, the key to ending the racial murders in Walaka lies not with David Cooper but in the mind of his idiot savant son, a sweet, innocent child who has seen the fire angels.

[Kenisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire Angels by Joseph Richardson takes place in a sleepy rural town in Florida named Walako during the early 1900s. The book begins with a harrowing birth scene and a bit of the tragic history of the central character, David Cooper. After this the story feels a bit slow, perhaps easing us into the relatively dull lives of the inhabitants of Walako , but it does pick up again and become engrossing.

The setting is used to convey the themes of the book to great effect. World War I was around the corner and black people suffered vast injustices although they had been freed many decades earlier. There was a lot of nationalism and overt racism, bigotry, etc at the time. During and after the war people in the town make trouble for Mr. Strow, a German-American store owner, and many of the black citizens. For the early parts of the book I was drawn into the brutal descriptions of the war and how if affected people abroad on the front line and at home. Even after the war David cannot find peace, as a hateful store owner named Guthrie attempts to gain control of the town through underhanded means. The ending is brief, but a satisfying bit of poetic justice. The prose is fluid and easy to read, with descriptions good enough that I felt I was there in Walako. During the war some of the story is conveyed during letters, which is an effective way to condense a lot of information.

As a piece of historical fiction, this novel is a success. I checked up on a few things as I read, such as the influenza pandemic that occurred during WWI and Roebuck's catalogs. So, Richardson did enough research on the subject to make it accurate. There are lots of details about the old fashioned vehicles and the way of life at the time that adds to the verisimilitude of the setting.

There are a plethora of characters who breathe life into the settings. You can detect noticeable change in a few characters, such as Sarah's growing friendship with Cora, a black female. Many of the characters are very likeable (well, perhaps not the antagonists), flaws and all, and don't feel unrealistic.

There were some formatting issues with the e-book I read. I'm not sure if it just wasn't formatted properly for a Kindle Fire, but there were odd breaks in the middle of paragraphs and page numbers in random places. Pretty distracting, but it did not inhibit my enjoyment. I would highly recommend this book.

[Bmquiram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire Angels seems to start with a sneak peek at the ending to the story. It left me curious to discover why the story will end that way, and what happened to cause this ending. After a great start this story seems to jump around a bit. It starts with a special event and...Read More
Fire Angels seems to start with a sneak peek at the ending to the story. It left me curious to discover why the story will end that way, and what happened to cause this ending. After a great start this story seems to jump around a bit. It starts with a special event and jumps to a memory then goes even further back to describe the founding of the nearby small town. Then it jumps back to how the first chapter started.
I prefer stories that have a linear timeline. I don’t mind the occasional flashback, but my personal preference for this story would be to structure it differently. Instead of having one character that seems constantly distracted with memories the first few chapters could be a section of their own. This section could be used to create the background for the story. After a few chapters this story returns to the linear style I prefer.
Fire Angels is set in the past. The story occurs in a time before women could vote and when segregation still occurred. I was surprised by how some of the female characters seem to just accept their life and even believe that it is the way it should be. Men should take care of women, and women do not have the right or the need to do many things women of today take for granted.
Once this story gets past the background descriptions and scene setting, it turns into a military war story. I generally prefer romantic novels or paranormal literature, but this war novel was captivating even for me. It provides insight into what life was really like for a soldier or for the soldiers’ family in the early 1900s.
I love how the story tells how life is going for the soldiers and for the families back home. About halfway through the book the stories start to intertwine from two settings into one. The story becomes beautifully intertwined as it escalates.
This is a wonderful story that left me thinking several things? How has the country changed over the last several decades or the last century? What would I do, think, or feel if I was in the situation that several characters faced? How many things do I take for granted and how many assumptions do I make?

[Soul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered about World War I, or how was the life of peoples, almost hundred years before now? If yes, then Joseph Richardson's "Fire Angels" is the book for you. In his debut novel Joseph, who himself is a former Army veteran of the Korean War did spectacular job of portraying the time period of 1920's and WWI. The book has lot of substantial issues to disclose to its readers.

Fire Angels is a Historical fiction which will take its readers on a journey, back in time in 1917. It is a story from a small rural town 'walako' in Florida. The story begins just before America’s declaration to fight against Germany in WWI. Story evolves around main character David Cooper and his wife Sara. How David had to leave Sara and his new born baby, to fight for his nation. How Sara struggles through her life while waiting for her husband David to come home, back from war.

Readers will see devastation of war, like friends dying; through the eyes of David cooper. Some of this story is conveyed with letters conversed. Book also gives special emphasis on changes in society, how war changes people and their thinking. How war increase prejudice and hatred within peoples. This book is every bit engaging and fascinating as any highly acclaimed piece of literature. Book further explores how black peoples suffered social injustice, and how some peoples who claim to be patriot or some sort of war heroes, with intention of their personal gain. Now David not only has his own prejudice to fight but he also must battle political corruption in his town.

"Fire Angels" is a gripping story; it will absorb you into the era long lost and will show you true meaning of War. The writing style of Joseph Richardson will occupy his readers mind into the story right from first page. Book is well paced and will definitely keep you hooked for hours. The title "Fire Angels" is justifiable and its reason is revealed at almost end of the book. There were some formatting issues with eBook copy, but were easily ignorable and they could have been isolated issues.

This book not just has a great plot but the execution of the plot is also great which made it one of the best books I ever read. There is great bit of detailing of the old days, for example I learned to start a war aircraft, isn't that cool? This book is a deserving candidate for 5 out of 5 stars.

[Kevin Fraleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few weeks ago a friend passed me a copy of “Fire Angels”, a self-published novel by Joseph Richardson. Fire Angels is the story of David and Sara Cooper, and their son Noble, set in Walako, Florida during the period of 1915-1925. In this story Richardson attempts to weave a complex narrative into which he draws xenophobic anti-German sentiment, racial hatred, and class conflict. But he tries too hard. By doing this he fails to delve into the emotions and psychological depth that would have made this story come alive. For instance, following America’s entry into World War I, David and his best friend, Robert Love, are sent to France. Following their first big battle, Robert is killed by a sniper. Following the war, David comes home and attempts to find catharsis in plowing a field. In that act David is overcome by the memory of Robert’s death and all the horrors of war Richardson did not include in the short description of David’s experience in France. The problem is that there is too much story, so nothing gets the depth necessary to draw the reader into the historical and emotional context. I wanted to be drawn into this story. I wanted to feel what David felt and really understand what life was like in early Twentieth Century small-town Florida. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

And there is something else by way of technical criticism. This novel, like many self-published efforts, could have benefited from a good, thorough professional editing. Numerous errors in the text detracted from the reading experience. For instance, I found inexplicably underlined or italicized words, dropped words, sentences all in caps, and other problems with formatting. These are not issues with style. These are basic errors I would expect to find in a draft novel, not a finished product.

This review was originally published in my blog at http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

[J.J. White · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Fire Angels, Joseph Richardson has taken his experience and knowledge of Florida’s rich history and created a classic tome of fiction that will entertain generations of readers to come.
David and Sara Cooper are a young couple struggling to make a farm work in the early part of the twentieth century when Florida was still the stuff of pioneers. Their plans are waylaid, first by the Great War, and then by men in their own town of Walako, men who live and rule with violence and a deep hatred of anyone unlike themselves.
Though the book is a wonderful panorama of life in early Florida, the theme of the book concentrates on the racism heaped on both the blacks and the German immigrants in town. Smith is honest with his readers, showing prejudice not only in the evil men of the town but the good people as well. Such an honest portrayal of the human character is rare in most historical fiction, yet most everything in Fire Angels feels real and rooted with truth.
Sid Guthrie is the villain, a well-written antagonist worthy of any evildoer in literature, though I wish Richardson could have written a smidgen of humanity in him. All villains have some good in them and if that side was shown, their evil deeds would seem even more shocking to the reader. That aside, this is the best book I’ve read this year and Richards thoroughly deserves the Patrick P. Smith Literary Excellence Award he won for this book. His style of writing is on par with Mr. Smith’s and Fire Angels could easily be compared with Smith’s, A Land Remembered. Fire Angels is a good book you need to read.

[Bookworm Adventure Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked after reading the prologue! This enjoyable book takes place in a small Florida town in the early 1900’s just before the US enters into WWI. The reader is launched into the lives of Sara and David Cooper and the birth of their son, Noble Adrian Cooper.
The writing is very detailed that there are many times I felt like I was right in the room or in the conversation with the characters. The dialogue is fantastic.
It is clear from the beginning that there is tension between blacks and whites from the way they are treated. There is also a strong tension stirring with WWI. The first hint of this is when Mr. Willie Strow, a german, is beaten and doesn’t want to tell anyone who did it. Plenty more harassment takes place as people try to deal with how their lives will change.
When it becomes evident that David Cooper will have to go to war, Sara takes this opportunity to assert herself and learn things that are not considered “women’s work”. The role of women is very interesting and I like how Sara’s character pushes the boundaries.
Letters that are sent during the war offer an insight to what David is experiencing and the lives of those in Walako, Florida. There is never a dull moment! In the end everything brings the reader back to the prologue.
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected too. A great read!

[Jessica Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fire Angels is a novel written by Joseph Richardson. It starts off just before America gets involved in World War I. This book was an amazing story that puts you in the shoes of a soldier who fights in the war, a German immigrant who lives in a town that has no tolerance of anyone of German decent. And a black man and his wife who try to help the children of the town by building a school that any black or white child can attend, but the Klan (which Noble Cooper calls Fire Angels) in the town will have nothing of the sort. The Cooper family is the main family that is followed through this book and it really makes you feel what they are feeling. You are elated when something good happens to the family, you feel the anger when people they love are being discriminated against, hurt, and even killed. The book draws you in so that you can't put it down because you find yourself anticipating what is going to happen next. This book shows how a family felt during such a difficult time in America and while reading it, it felt as if I was being transported back into 1917 and living with the frustration, and appalled at the injustice that they had to go through. I would reccomend this book to my family and friends I think everyone would enjoy reading this book it really opens your eyes to what the history of America was really like.

[Rob]

Fire Angels is an amazing book. Set around the time of the first world war, it follows a small Florida town in the grips of anti German and racist sentiments. It closely follows the cooper family, and It's one of those books that even after you put it down, you don't stop thinking about it. The characters are well written and you feel an emotional connection to them. The author has a way of drawing you in so you share the joy and anger and shame of the characters. The story keeps you thinking, and I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to family and friends.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually read modern-day mysteries, but, given a copy of Fire Angels, I tried something new and am very glad I did. The descriptions and dialogue were so graphic, I felt I was part of the story. Although I read it for the plot, I learned a great deal about living in this era that made me feel fortunate to be in the America of today. I believe you will enjoy the journey Mr. Richardson sets out for you.

[Shirley Hinther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family, finance and prejudice during World War !. This allows the reader to view small-town life during the war, with its struggles, pain and prejudices.