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The Sound of Fire
In the basement of a residence at a small liberal arts university in rural New Brunswick, while war rages overseas, a fire breaks out in the middle of the night. The town is sleeping.
A novel of devastating beauty, based on the true story of the December 1941 fire that destroyed the men’s residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, killing four students, and bringing the horrors of war startlingly close to home. Told at a blistering pace and in multiple points of view, this stunning work of historical fiction explores themes of trauma, love, and humanity in the face of tragedy.
A novel of devastating beauty, based on the true story of the December 1941 fire that destroyed the men’s residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, killing four students, and bringing the horrors of war startlingly close to home. Told at a blistering pace and in multiple points of view, this stunning work of historical fiction explores themes of trauma, love, and humanity in the face of tragedy.
261 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
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October 13, 2021
Thank you, Net Galley and Nimbus Publishing for this interesting, informative, and impeccably researched historical novel. It was strongly based on fact. It centers around a fire at a small liberal arts university, Mount Allison, in Sackville, New New Brunswick, in December 1941. The men's four-story-high residence was engulfed in flames and destroyed within 15 minutes. The building housed approximately 200 students. The majority were members of the Canadian Officers Training Corps (COTC) which was made compulsory in 1940. It was aimed at being a fast track into officer positions in the military for those who successfully completed the course and decided to enlist. Also, housed in the residence were about 25 airmen taking a Radio Mechanics course in radar. The war in Europe was on everyone's mind. To some outsiders, there was a strong sentiment that the male students should already be in Europe fighting for their country and England.
I attended Mt. A in the 1950s and was amazed I had never heard about this part of its history. I was interested in reading if the book was based on a true event and not one entirely fictional. Thank goodness for the internet. A Google search gave me many details about the fire, the people described in the book, the inquiry, and the aftermath. The events and characters became real and present in this novel and the research seems exhaustive.
I was immersed in the life and layout of the University but not in the present-day (although I live only 35 minutes away), and not as it was when I attended. I was totally engaged in Mt A in 1941. The author brought to life the campus during WW2 and made it easy to visualize what it was like so long ago. Because of the scope of the novel, numerous faculty, staff, students, and some townspeople were brought to life. These many characters were all based on real people, with only their names changed. It showed the emotional impact of the tragedy but I felt distant. Sometimes I felt I was reading a news story and I was lacking a buildup of emotion that some historical novels might impart. This was because I found it confusing to keep track of so many names and had difficulty sorting them out, especially if a character's name appeared in a later chapter. The story well described the events and the impact on the people involved and their families.
Most of the book was written in the third person but there was also a unique addition, the voice of the Fire itself told in separate chapters spread throughout the narrative. This was beautifully imagined and written.
The four-story building was engulfed in fire so rapidly that there was suspicion an accelerant was used. The building was destroyed in 15 minutes. It occurred on a cold wintery night of December 16th while the students were asleep. Four students died, either from being trapped in the fire, smoke inhalation, or from jumping from third or fourth-story windows. others were severely injured with broken spines, pelvis, other fractures, burns, and smoke inhalation and transported to hospital. Survivors showed great heroism in helping rescue others from the fire and flames. The smoke had been so thick that it was almost impossible to find a way out. Most of the survivors emerged shivering outside, barefoot and clad only in their pajamas. All their clothing and personal belongings were lost. Families had thought their young men safe from the overseas war.
Several of the survivors were sent to the roof of the girl's residence to watch for flying embers. They were scantily dressed and without equipment on the snowy, chilly winter night. There were many rumors regarding the fire. Some believed it was deliberately set by an arsonist, perhaps directed at the military Radio Mechanics group. An Inquiry concluded it was accidental. The women students still feared an arsonist and were said to sleep in their clothing with suitcases packed, ready to make a quick escape if necessary.
The fear, loss of life, injuries, and the subsequent inquiry impacted individual perspectives and changed the lives and outlooks of many students and faculty. The surrounding town of Sackville gave generously in help for the students who were left without warm clothing, boots, textbooks, and housing.
I admired the way author, Renee Belliveau brought this mostly forgotten local history to life, and I hope she pursues other aspects of our local history.
I attended Mt. A in the 1950s and was amazed I had never heard about this part of its history. I was interested in reading if the book was based on a true event and not one entirely fictional. Thank goodness for the internet. A Google search gave me many details about the fire, the people described in the book, the inquiry, and the aftermath. The events and characters became real and present in this novel and the research seems exhaustive.
I was immersed in the life and layout of the University but not in the present-day (although I live only 35 minutes away), and not as it was when I attended. I was totally engaged in Mt A in 1941. The author brought to life the campus during WW2 and made it easy to visualize what it was like so long ago. Because of the scope of the novel, numerous faculty, staff, students, and some townspeople were brought to life. These many characters were all based on real people, with only their names changed. It showed the emotional impact of the tragedy but I felt distant. Sometimes I felt I was reading a news story and I was lacking a buildup of emotion that some historical novels might impart. This was because I found it confusing to keep track of so many names and had difficulty sorting them out, especially if a character's name appeared in a later chapter. The story well described the events and the impact on the people involved and their families.
Most of the book was written in the third person but there was also a unique addition, the voice of the Fire itself told in separate chapters spread throughout the narrative. This was beautifully imagined and written.
The four-story building was engulfed in fire so rapidly that there was suspicion an accelerant was used. The building was destroyed in 15 minutes. It occurred on a cold wintery night of December 16th while the students were asleep. Four students died, either from being trapped in the fire, smoke inhalation, or from jumping from third or fourth-story windows. others were severely injured with broken spines, pelvis, other fractures, burns, and smoke inhalation and transported to hospital. Survivors showed great heroism in helping rescue others from the fire and flames. The smoke had been so thick that it was almost impossible to find a way out. Most of the survivors emerged shivering outside, barefoot and clad only in their pajamas. All their clothing and personal belongings were lost. Families had thought their young men safe from the overseas war.
Several of the survivors were sent to the roof of the girl's residence to watch for flying embers. They were scantily dressed and without equipment on the snowy, chilly winter night. There were many rumors regarding the fire. Some believed it was deliberately set by an arsonist, perhaps directed at the military Radio Mechanics group. An Inquiry concluded it was accidental. The women students still feared an arsonist and were said to sleep in their clothing with suitcases packed, ready to make a quick escape if necessary.
The fear, loss of life, injuries, and the subsequent inquiry impacted individual perspectives and changed the lives and outlooks of many students and faculty. The surrounding town of Sackville gave generously in help for the students who were left without warm clothing, boots, textbooks, and housing.
I admired the way author, Renee Belliveau brought this mostly forgotten local history to life, and I hope she pursues other aspects of our local history.
November 8, 2024
As a Mount Allison University alumna, I was hugely looking forward to reading Renée Belliveau's 2021 novel The Sound of Fire (historical fiction, albeit based on a tragically true event), with Belliveau's text recalling how on December 16th, 1941 a huge nighttime conflagration completely destroyed the men’s residence of Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada (leaving the building in ruins and basically with nothing but some of its walls remaining, many students injured and four fatalities), and that yes indeed, my positive and eager reading expectations regarding The Sound of Fire have not only been one hundred percent met but also in fact hugely surpassed, and that my star rating for The Sound of Fire and for Renée Belliveau as an author are thus solidly and gloriously five stars (and would even be higher if more than five stars were allowed on and by Goodreads).
Now the fire started in the early morning hours (around 1:30 a.m.) below the basement stairs of the forty year old four-storey structure (stone on the outside, but mostly wood on the inside, built in 1900/1901) and rapidly spread upwards to basically engulf the entire building in less than fifteen minutes. And with the end of the autumn semester in sight, many students had naturally been partying, getting ready to head home for Christmas (and awakened to noise and panic, with some students also tipsy after an evening/night of carousing, many were thus pretty slow to grasp what was happening and that this was not some end-of-term prank but a bona fide and dangerous disaster and with basically no-one prepared for the life-threatening emergency the fire was causing).
But just to say that when I attended Mount Allison University from 1985 to 1989, yes, we all had heard of that December 1941 fire. However, after now reading The Sound of Fire, Belliveau's presented text also makes me personally consider the fact that there were only four fatalities (whilst tragic for the victims and their families of course) almost a bit of a blessing in disguise, since that gigantic inferno basically destroyed pretty much everything in the Mount Allison men's residence extremely quickly and could therefore also easily have taken many many more lives than four. And indeed, I also have to admit that after perusing The Sound of Fire and how fast the men's residence building became a raging conflagration, when I remember my own time at Mount Allison, although I really and totally loved loved loved my time at Mount A and residence life in particular, well, if a fire had broken out at Bermuda House (at my residence building), that fire could possibly have been even more potentially destructive than the 1941 men's residence inferno, as Bermuda House was (and perhaps even still is) not only an entirely wooden structure but that instead of fibreglass (or similar) insulation, like supposedly many historical Maritime provinces of Canada buildings, seaweed had been used for lining the walls, and that this would have in my opinion provided no fire prevention, no protection at all (rapid fire food so to speak).
So the first third or so of The Sound of Fire has Renée Belliveau very much graphically describing, depicting the night of the fire, textually demonstrating in often uncomfortably harrowing details and words the struggle of the students caught in the conflagration to escape, the reactions of onlookers and of those who tried to help, with Belliveau constructing with The Sound of Fire an authentic and realistic historical setting and a solid core of varying and diverse human emotions. And while I often do not tend to enjoy multiple points of view in fictional narratives, for The Sound of Fire, Renée Belliveau doing precisely this really works amazingly well, and strangely enough, actually having the fire itself narrate parts of The Sound of Fire also and surprisingly for me neither creeps me out nor does it feel artificial, although admittedly, I did have to get a bit used to this, to the fire's voice, but after a few pages of textual uncertainty, any and all narrative frustration and uncertainty totally evaporated for me.
And with the first part of The Sound of Fire showing the night of the fire, the rest of the novel (and naturally so in my opinion) shows and focusses on the aftermath (the impact of the fire on Mount Allison University, on Sackville and its effect on individual lives), with immediately after the men's residence conflagration, most people being shown by Belliveau as too shocked to do anything but respond to the needs of the injured and those left without shelter, clothing and food, but that later, the response of the community extends beyond practical needs, with some trying to help alleviate the pain and loss that the tragedy has caused with humanitarianism, with love and caring, but that others and problematically so speculate on causes, cast blame, spread rumours, raise suspicions, but really and truly offer little of real use (and I do very much appreciate that in The Voice of Fire, Renée Belliveau very clearly and pointedly, very harshly labels the speculators, the blame casters, the rumour mongers and the suspicion raisers as nasty, as bigoted and as pretty horrid lowlives).
An excellent historical fiction novel is The Sound of Fire, with an as already mentioned above five star rating from me (and considering how rare five stars ratings are for me, yes, I do very highly recommend The Sound of Fire).
Now the fire started in the early morning hours (around 1:30 a.m.) below the basement stairs of the forty year old four-storey structure (stone on the outside, but mostly wood on the inside, built in 1900/1901) and rapidly spread upwards to basically engulf the entire building in less than fifteen minutes. And with the end of the autumn semester in sight, many students had naturally been partying, getting ready to head home for Christmas (and awakened to noise and panic, with some students also tipsy after an evening/night of carousing, many were thus pretty slow to grasp what was happening and that this was not some end-of-term prank but a bona fide and dangerous disaster and with basically no-one prepared for the life-threatening emergency the fire was causing).
But just to say that when I attended Mount Allison University from 1985 to 1989, yes, we all had heard of that December 1941 fire. However, after now reading The Sound of Fire, Belliveau's presented text also makes me personally consider the fact that there were only four fatalities (whilst tragic for the victims and their families of course) almost a bit of a blessing in disguise, since that gigantic inferno basically destroyed pretty much everything in the Mount Allison men's residence extremely quickly and could therefore also easily have taken many many more lives than four. And indeed, I also have to admit that after perusing The Sound of Fire and how fast the men's residence building became a raging conflagration, when I remember my own time at Mount Allison, although I really and totally loved loved loved my time at Mount A and residence life in particular, well, if a fire had broken out at Bermuda House (at my residence building), that fire could possibly have been even more potentially destructive than the 1941 men's residence inferno, as Bermuda House was (and perhaps even still is) not only an entirely wooden structure but that instead of fibreglass (or similar) insulation, like supposedly many historical Maritime provinces of Canada buildings, seaweed had been used for lining the walls, and that this would have in my opinion provided no fire prevention, no protection at all (rapid fire food so to speak).
So the first third or so of The Sound of Fire has Renée Belliveau very much graphically describing, depicting the night of the fire, textually demonstrating in often uncomfortably harrowing details and words the struggle of the students caught in the conflagration to escape, the reactions of onlookers and of those who tried to help, with Belliveau constructing with The Sound of Fire an authentic and realistic historical setting and a solid core of varying and diverse human emotions. And while I often do not tend to enjoy multiple points of view in fictional narratives, for The Sound of Fire, Renée Belliveau doing precisely this really works amazingly well, and strangely enough, actually having the fire itself narrate parts of The Sound of Fire also and surprisingly for me neither creeps me out nor does it feel artificial, although admittedly, I did have to get a bit used to this, to the fire's voice, but after a few pages of textual uncertainty, any and all narrative frustration and uncertainty totally evaporated for me.
And with the first part of The Sound of Fire showing the night of the fire, the rest of the novel (and naturally so in my opinion) shows and focusses on the aftermath (the impact of the fire on Mount Allison University, on Sackville and its effect on individual lives), with immediately after the men's residence conflagration, most people being shown by Belliveau as too shocked to do anything but respond to the needs of the injured and those left without shelter, clothing and food, but that later, the response of the community extends beyond practical needs, with some trying to help alleviate the pain and loss that the tragedy has caused with humanitarianism, with love and caring, but that others and problematically so speculate on causes, cast blame, spread rumours, raise suspicions, but really and truly offer little of real use (and I do very much appreciate that in The Voice of Fire, Renée Belliveau very clearly and pointedly, very harshly labels the speculators, the blame casters, the rumour mongers and the suspicion raisers as nasty, as bigoted and as pretty horrid lowlives).
An excellent historical fiction novel is The Sound of Fire, with an as already mentioned above five star rating from me (and considering how rare five stars ratings are for me, yes, I do very highly recommend The Sound of Fire).
March 16, 2022
I received this ARC from the Locally Authored Book Exchange Group, at Dartmouth Book Exchange, where we read and review Atlantic Canadian books.
The cover of the book is appealing. I like the title too.
Historical fiction is not my usual read. I prefer nonfiction. But the story intrigued me because it’s based on the tragic true events of the December 16, 1941 fire at Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada.
At the book group, I learned the author first learned about the fire when she was a student working at the university archives. She became well acquainted with those voices from the past. Those who witnessed the fire.
Instead of basing the book on actual people, she decided to create fictional characters.
Chapters are short. The character’s name, the title for each chapter, making it easy to keep track of the various points of view. You’ll hear from: Andrew, Wesley, Ross, Hugh, Edmund, John, Laura, Anthony, Vincent, Simon, Nell, Elizabeth, Katherine, Lillian, Maurice, Thomas, Miriam, Albert, Lorne, Victoria, Leonard, Joan, Lawrence, Colin, Patrick, Damien, Lee, Samuel, Alastair, David, Richard, Archie, Nancy, and FIRE.
Listing their names brings back a childhood memory of the TV show Romper Room. At the end of the show, Miss Nancy peered through the magic mirror. Called out the names of the children watching at home
Some characters you will hear from once, others several times.
Each are snapshots. Vignettes. Slices of life. Glimpses of death.
Fire has a voice. Your first thought may be…what?
But fire seems to have a life of its own. As it rages and destroys all in its path. Sucking in oxygen and growing. Eventually dying.
We love fire. We fear fire.
Fire is so symbolic. It is life. It is death.
This book is about that.
I’ve thought this thought too, even about my own death.
On page 238: What had been Jack’s final words to their mother? He wondered as he climbed into the motorcar. What had been his own final words to his brother?
Page 104: I loved Lillian and the part about Canada having fir trees. Not fur on trees.
Page 117: fiction always makes reality more palatable.
Possibly why the author chose this form in telling this story?
Some in a fire have a horrible choice. To parish in a fire or fall to their deaths.
I didn’t learn until reading the Author’s Notes in the back of the book that Laura’s plea for John’s survival — if he survives, I’ll marry him are the words that Rhoda Colville spoke for Alex Colville as she waited for him to escape the fire.
Knowing this, I would’ve paid more attention to John, knowing he was based on Colville.
So, if you like history paired with good writing, along with a unique structure, check out this book.
Much thanks to the author for a job well done!
The cover of the book is appealing. I like the title too.
Historical fiction is not my usual read. I prefer nonfiction. But the story intrigued me because it’s based on the tragic true events of the December 16, 1941 fire at Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada.
At the book group, I learned the author first learned about the fire when she was a student working at the university archives. She became well acquainted with those voices from the past. Those who witnessed the fire.
Instead of basing the book on actual people, she decided to create fictional characters.
Chapters are short. The character’s name, the title for each chapter, making it easy to keep track of the various points of view. You’ll hear from: Andrew, Wesley, Ross, Hugh, Edmund, John, Laura, Anthony, Vincent, Simon, Nell, Elizabeth, Katherine, Lillian, Maurice, Thomas, Miriam, Albert, Lorne, Victoria, Leonard, Joan, Lawrence, Colin, Patrick, Damien, Lee, Samuel, Alastair, David, Richard, Archie, Nancy, and FIRE.
Listing their names brings back a childhood memory of the TV show Romper Room. At the end of the show, Miss Nancy peered through the magic mirror. Called out the names of the children watching at home
Some characters you will hear from once, others several times.
Each are snapshots. Vignettes. Slices of life. Glimpses of death.
Fire has a voice. Your first thought may be…what?
But fire seems to have a life of its own. As it rages and destroys all in its path. Sucking in oxygen and growing. Eventually dying.
We love fire. We fear fire.
Fire is so symbolic. It is life. It is death.
This book is about that.
I’ve thought this thought too, even about my own death.
On page 238: What had been Jack’s final words to their mother? He wondered as he climbed into the motorcar. What had been his own final words to his brother?
Page 104: I loved Lillian and the part about Canada having fir trees. Not fur on trees.
Page 117: fiction always makes reality more palatable.
Possibly why the author chose this form in telling this story?
Some in a fire have a horrible choice. To parish in a fire or fall to their deaths.
I didn’t learn until reading the Author’s Notes in the back of the book that Laura’s plea for John’s survival — if he survives, I’ll marry him are the words that Rhoda Colville spoke for Alex Colville as she waited for him to escape the fire.
Knowing this, I would’ve paid more attention to John, knowing he was based on Colville.
So, if you like history paired with good writing, along with a unique structure, check out this book.
Much thanks to the author for a job well done!
December 13, 2021
An interesting read about a fire at a local university.
I found the many points of view hard to follow, but a gripping read; finished in basically one sitting
I found the many points of view hard to follow, but a gripping read; finished in basically one sitting
November 8, 2021
As someone who attended Mt. A back in the 90s, I was immediately intrigued with this book. When I realized it contained multiple (a lot!) of different points of view, including that of the fire, I was a little concerned.
I needn't have been. Belliveau did an AMAZING job bringing this story to life, and the first page from the POV of the fire BLEW ME AWAY. Another section from the fire hit me right in the chest, taking my breath. Gorgeous imagery. I also appreciated the author's note and her take on writing fictional biography...I agree 100%.
If I were being nitpicky, I would say that occasionally verb tense and the use of "filter" words detracted from the immediacy of the prose - i.e. "he felt" is used quite often when more active verbs could have been used. But like I said...nitpicky. This was incredibly well done and engaging and I'm so very glad I picked it up.
I needn't have been. Belliveau did an AMAZING job bringing this story to life, and the first page from the POV of the fire BLEW ME AWAY. Another section from the fire hit me right in the chest, taking my breath. Gorgeous imagery. I also appreciated the author's note and her take on writing fictional biography...I agree 100%.
If I were being nitpicky, I would say that occasionally verb tense and the use of "filter" words detracted from the immediacy of the prose - i.e. "he felt" is used quite often when more active verbs could have been used. But like I said...nitpicky. This was incredibly well done and engaging and I'm so very glad I picked it up.
December 29, 2022
will not be shutting up about this book anytime soon, a must read for all my mta people
October 9, 2021
In her splendidly engrossing and poignant novel, The Sound of Fire, Renée Belliveau recalls a true event that brought tragedy to a small town in the Maritime Provinces, on Canada’s east coast. In December 1941, with WWII spreading devastation across Europe and fear across the rest of the world, a fire gutted the men’s residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. Many were injured. Four young men died. The fire started in the early morning hours in the basement of the 40-year-old four-storey structure and rapidly spread upwards to engulf the entire building. With end of term looming, students were in party mode, blowing off steam, getting ready to head home for Christmas break. As they awoke to noise and panic, some, groggy from the effects of the previous night’s drinking binge, were slow to grasp what was happening. Others, unable to find a passage to safety, were forced back into their rooms. None were prepared for a life-threatening emergency. In the first minutes after the alarm was sounded, as the stairwells and hallways filled with smoke and the flames gathered strength, confusion reigned. The first third or so of the novel graphically depicts the night of the fire, describing in urgent and harrowing terms the struggle of students to escape the inferno and the reactions of onlookers and those who answered the call for help. The rest of the novel explores the tragedy’s aftermath: its impact on the town and the effect it had on individual lives. In the immediate wake of the fire, people are too shocked to do anything but respond to the needs of the injured and those left without shelter, clothing and food. But in the weeks that follow, the response of the community extends beyond practical needs. For those wishing to alleviate the pain and loss that the tragedy has caused, it becomes a humanitarian enterprise, an act of love and caring. Others, watching from the sidelines, speculate on causes, cast blame, spread rumours, raise suspicions, but offer little of use. Belliveau has constructed her novel around two central pillars: a vividly imagined historical setting and a solid core of diverse human emotion. By telling the story from multiple perspectives she poses a huge challenge to herself as a novelist: bringing more than a dozen characters to life by endowing each with a rich personal history. Belliveau draws her sizable cast from among the students and staff of the university—survivors of the fire, administrators, witnesses—and the people who inhabit the town and view the event through a more distant and objective lens. If The Sound of Fire were a film, it would be described as an ensemble piece. Indeed, the novel is cinematic in its scope and structure, the story delivered in terse fragments, revealed in sharp and soft focus and from an exhilarating variety of angles. The Sound of Fire moves briskly but leaves a deep and lasting impression. It is a polished work of great empathy and a remarkable feat of imaginative reconstruction. With this, her first novel, Renee Belliveau shows she is a writer to watch.
October 17, 2021
A novel [...] based on the true story of the December 1941 fire that destroyed the men’s residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick... (Blurb of 'The Sound of Fire)
This was a truly remarkable read, which impressed me on several levels, most of all on account of its structure and composition. The story was told from the viewpoint and experience of numerous participants, both those involved in the actual tragedy and others peripheral to it. This gave extreme life and immediacy to the account and skillfully highlighted emotional and physical reactions to the tragedy. The masterstroke was, however, the personification of Fire, whose voice heralded by mimickry the evolution of the tragedy and its aftermath. As the fire grew in might and power, so people were devoured by its suffocating, deadly ferocity; as it reminiced on the magnificence of its fiery feast whilst lingering, almost satiated over its remainders, so people, dazed, took stock of their injuries and losses; as it was almost combusting again, so rumours and conjectures about its origin arose, until finally, the ashes dispersed, and so did all action. Nothing remained, except the scars in landscape and in those that were disfigured physically and emotionally. The pace of the writing imitated the pace of the fire, from breathtaking urgency to complacent reminiscence, and in such powerful prose that I was completely enthralled and hard pressed to pause reading.
The immaculate research into the disaster and Belliveau's mastery in weaving the local tragedy into the larger-scale horrors of WWII added to the richness of the novel's atmosphere. Add to that her impressive skill of sketching numerous characters within the constricted space of a chapter and endowing each with their individual context and background.
Harrowing and beautiful in one, this is a book that will stay with me for a while, as really good books should...
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the electronic copy of this riveting novel. This review expresses my own, honest opinions.
This was a truly remarkable read, which impressed me on several levels, most of all on account of its structure and composition. The story was told from the viewpoint and experience of numerous participants, both those involved in the actual tragedy and others peripheral to it. This gave extreme life and immediacy to the account and skillfully highlighted emotional and physical reactions to the tragedy. The masterstroke was, however, the personification of Fire, whose voice heralded by mimickry the evolution of the tragedy and its aftermath. As the fire grew in might and power, so people were devoured by its suffocating, deadly ferocity; as it reminiced on the magnificence of its fiery feast whilst lingering, almost satiated over its remainders, so people, dazed, took stock of their injuries and losses; as it was almost combusting again, so rumours and conjectures about its origin arose, until finally, the ashes dispersed, and so did all action. Nothing remained, except the scars in landscape and in those that were disfigured physically and emotionally. The pace of the writing imitated the pace of the fire, from breathtaking urgency to complacent reminiscence, and in such powerful prose that I was completely enthralled and hard pressed to pause reading.
The immaculate research into the disaster and Belliveau's mastery in weaving the local tragedy into the larger-scale horrors of WWII added to the richness of the novel's atmosphere. Add to that her impressive skill of sketching numerous characters within the constricted space of a chapter and endowing each with their individual context and background.
Harrowing and beautiful in one, this is a book that will stay with me for a while, as really good books should...
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the electronic copy of this riveting novel. This review expresses my own, honest opinions.
February 21, 2022
Mount Allison was my first degree and home away from home. It still is a place that makes me happy to remember. When I see a Flying A on a car, I hold myself back from asking when they graduated and what house they lived in. I was in Windsor and Harper.
I graduated in 2003. My sister, in 2001. My parents attended before heading to Dal. My grandmother Jamieson was also an Allisonian and told me stories of her days there.
My sister gave me this book for Christmas this year and laughingly told me how she had to read it before passing it on. The fire was something that was talked about, much like the ghost in Hart Hall, but there was never one consistent tale. I really enjoyed reading the true story and learning it wasn’t what I thought. I wish Grammie J was around to talk to about it. To see what it was like attending so close to the time of the fire.
Read it. If not for any other reason than to be back on campus for one of the most recollected nights in her history.
I graduated in 2003. My sister, in 2001. My parents attended before heading to Dal. My grandmother Jamieson was also an Allisonian and told me stories of her days there.
My sister gave me this book for Christmas this year and laughingly told me how she had to read it before passing it on. The fire was something that was talked about, much like the ghost in Hart Hall, but there was never one consistent tale. I really enjoyed reading the true story and learning it wasn’t what I thought. I wish Grammie J was around to talk to about it. To see what it was like attending so close to the time of the fire.
Read it. If not for any other reason than to be back on campus for one of the most recollected nights in her history.
March 15, 2022
A remarkable read about a terrible subject made worse by the fact it’s based on a true event I was completely unaware of. My youngest son currently lives on the top floor of a current residence on the same street of the Mount Allison campus so while this book was compelling and poignant, it was also a harrowing read for me and made me feel anxious. It was sooo good though, I couldn’t put it down however much I wanted to at times. With this novel it’s clear to me Ms. Belliveau has a fine literary career ahead of her. Brilliant!
July 2, 2022
One of the best books I have read in a while. Creative, informative, emotive, and respectful of the tragedy. Well done!
March 8, 2023
thanks lisa for the rec! always special to read a historical fiction based near home.
January 9, 2022
This novel took me completely by surprise. A slice of history I wasn't aware of, combined with a series of personal vignettes that tells the story with amazing, concise power...and the pace literally flies by. The feeling of melancholy in this novel can be cut with a knife -- a simple, straightforward grief at the loss of so many things. Just beautiful.
December 27, 2021
This book was fascinating to me, as my father was in this fire. He only ever told us a little about it, so it was extremely interesting to learn more and get some insight into the experience. It’s a great and moving story, even if you don’t have a personal connection.
December 5, 2021
I thorough enjoyed this. As a Mount Allison alumna, it was especially interesting. But It is so well -written and moves along at such a good clip, that I can highly recommend it for any reader.
April 21, 2023
Local historical fiction about a place that holds such a special spot in my heart. Loved the storytelling style from different perspectives.
May 30, 2024
Most chapters: This fire is terrifying! This is a tragedy! World War Two is happening!
The fire chapters: "The wind caressed my throbbing ember, sending a shiver of arousal through me."
The fire chapters: "The wind caressed my throbbing ember, sending a shiver of arousal through me."
January 10, 2022
Very interesting story, worth both telling and knowing about.
April 15, 2022
I was born and raised in Sackville, NB, the home of Mount Allison University. My parents were married in June of 1941. She was a young nurse who met my father in Amherst, NS where she had received her training. He was 4th- or 5th-generation Sackville native. Within 6 months of their marriage, Pearl Harbour was bombed, and then came the basis of this book, The Sound of Fire by Renee Belliveau, a New Brunswicker herself.
My mother was not afraid of much, but two things I remember her fearing were dogs (she had been bitten as a child), and we always had dogs, but she coped, and fires, which I later came to understand the reason for, again, the reason for this book. Oh, how I wish I had paid closer attention to her stories from that time. She was actively involved in treating some of the victims.
Just before Christmas break at Mount Allison, in 1941, a massive, devastating fire broke out shortly after midnight in the men's residence on campus. The building was destroyed in short order, resulting in a number of injuries from burns and jumps; even more devastating were the deaths of four young men who could not make it out.
As stated, the book is based on the actual incident, but real names are not included in the story. It is of interest that world-renowned painter Alex Colville and his girlfriend/wife Rhoda, were a part of this horrendous incident, Alex being a senior at the time.
The author of the book is a fairly recent graduate of Mount A, and now works there. She became intrigued by the incident, and began extensive, intensive research which included a lot of time in the archives plus interviews with survivors and/or family members (not so many after all this time). The result is this little gem of a book - her first which, while based on fact, is full of imagined but quite believable details.
Belliveau decided to tell the story from various points of view - students in the building as well as the ladies' residence, different townsfolk and dignitaries such as the university's president, and some instructors, etc. So there are a lot of 'characters'. What really impressed me though, was her making the fire itself into a character. As fire is to many, it was mesmerizing at times. It had a voice; it had a mission. It had . . . feelings?
Most of the campus has undergone much change since then, but I have memories of some parts - especially the old gymnasium which was a gathering place for survivors at the time.
The book moves along at a fairly rapid pace, as a fire would. Some say it only took about 15 minutes for the building to be razed. I do not believe it will ever be forgotten and am grateful that Renee was able to capture it the way she did. There is a plaque now on campus with the names of those who died to help ensure they and the entire tragedy will remain.
Sackville native or not, Mount Allisonian or not, NB'er, Canadian - it doesn't matter where you're from, this is a book that begs to be read. It's that good.
My mother was not afraid of much, but two things I remember her fearing were dogs (she had been bitten as a child), and we always had dogs, but she coped, and fires, which I later came to understand the reason for, again, the reason for this book. Oh, how I wish I had paid closer attention to her stories from that time. She was actively involved in treating some of the victims.
Just before Christmas break at Mount Allison, in 1941, a massive, devastating fire broke out shortly after midnight in the men's residence on campus. The building was destroyed in short order, resulting in a number of injuries from burns and jumps; even more devastating were the deaths of four young men who could not make it out.
As stated, the book is based on the actual incident, but real names are not included in the story. It is of interest that world-renowned painter Alex Colville and his girlfriend/wife Rhoda, were a part of this horrendous incident, Alex being a senior at the time.
The author of the book is a fairly recent graduate of Mount A, and now works there. She became intrigued by the incident, and began extensive, intensive research which included a lot of time in the archives plus interviews with survivors and/or family members (not so many after all this time). The result is this little gem of a book - her first which, while based on fact, is full of imagined but quite believable details.
Belliveau decided to tell the story from various points of view - students in the building as well as the ladies' residence, different townsfolk and dignitaries such as the university's president, and some instructors, etc. So there are a lot of 'characters'. What really impressed me though, was her making the fire itself into a character. As fire is to many, it was mesmerizing at times. It had a voice; it had a mission. It had . . . feelings?
Most of the campus has undergone much change since then, but I have memories of some parts - especially the old gymnasium which was a gathering place for survivors at the time.
The book moves along at a fairly rapid pace, as a fire would. Some say it only took about 15 minutes for the building to be razed. I do not believe it will ever be forgotten and am grateful that Renee was able to capture it the way she did. There is a plaque now on campus with the names of those who died to help ensure they and the entire tragedy will remain.
Sackville native or not, Mount Allisonian or not, NB'er, Canadian - it doesn't matter where you're from, this is a book that begs to be read. It's that good.
May 31, 2024
I found having so many POV hard to follow. Even though I understand what the author was trying to do with all the different POVs, I just found some of them uninteresting and they felt like filler space.
I will say, the book was clearly well researched and she told the tragic story of the Mount A fire very well and respectfully, just not something I’d personally usually be interested in reading (book club book). Having the fire be a “character” was definitely unique, but not my taste.
I will say, the book was clearly well researched and she told the tragic story of the Mount A fire very well and respectfully, just not something I’d personally usually be interested in reading (book club book). Having the fire be a “character” was definitely unique, but not my taste.
July 21, 2022
A quick read, though unsettling in parts due to the subject matter. The short chapters and many points of view give a broad perspective on the events, and some context. Several chapters are beautiful stand-alone pieces of writing.
The choice to fictionalize a true story and yet not focus on any particular character is occasionally frustrating. While this gives the author the freedom to imagine the thoughts and actions of people, one never knows whether a particular aspect of the fire is factual - many are, and fascinating - or made up. A few characters re-appear at points in the story, while others, including ones we want to know more about, make a single appearance only. The chronology is challenging at times, as some chapters overlap.
The book reminded me of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, but that may be an unfair comparison since Lord's book is non-fiction. As a whole, this book is good, but what impresses most are the poetic passages and perspectives of some individual chapters.
The choice to fictionalize a true story and yet not focus on any particular character is occasionally frustrating. While this gives the author the freedom to imagine the thoughts and actions of people, one never knows whether a particular aspect of the fire is factual - many are, and fascinating - or made up. A few characters re-appear at points in the story, while others, including ones we want to know more about, make a single appearance only. The chronology is challenging at times, as some chapters overlap.
The book reminded me of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, but that may be an unfair comparison since Lord's book is non-fiction. As a whole, this book is good, but what impresses most are the poetic passages and perspectives of some individual chapters.
May 5, 2024
CW: fire, unsolved mystery, death, loss
This telling of the burning of the Men’s Residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB in 1941 was captivating. In a story with almost a new perspective for each chapter, it was kaleidoscopic and rhizomatic in the connections it made. The pace is fast and intense, with the majority of the events taking place over the course of a single evening. There is no real protagonist or antagonist, beyond the fire itself. The chapters written from this perspective came across as clunky. It didn’t work for me— the fire was already a character, like the campus, without being given its own voice.
The perspective overall was engaging. I felt deeply with the characters during their brief sketches. However, given the large number of characters, I struggled to keep them separate so the continuities in perspective across the book were difficult to map, with perhaps the exception of the President and the Journalist because of their clear roles.
The archival research and investment in the story was clear. The time felt vivid. It was very evocative and I read it with urgency.
This telling of the burning of the Men’s Residence at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB in 1941 was captivating. In a story with almost a new perspective for each chapter, it was kaleidoscopic and rhizomatic in the connections it made. The pace is fast and intense, with the majority of the events taking place over the course of a single evening. There is no real protagonist or antagonist, beyond the fire itself. The chapters written from this perspective came across as clunky. It didn’t work for me— the fire was already a character, like the campus, without being given its own voice.
The perspective overall was engaging. I felt deeply with the characters during their brief sketches. However, given the large number of characters, I struggled to keep them separate so the continuities in perspective across the book were difficult to map, with perhaps the exception of the President and the Journalist because of their clear roles.
The archival research and investment in the story was clear. The time felt vivid. It was very evocative and I read it with urgency.
December 2, 2025
A fascinating piece of New Brunswick history brought to life thru the experiences of fictional characters. The author chose an interesting format to tell the story; short chapters focus on about 3 dozen different people and their experiences the night of the fire and in the weeks that followed. About a dozen of them were residence in the building that night others were or became involved in a variety of ways. There are POVs from other students, faculty, doctors, nurses, parents, firemen, townies, the newspaper editor, and my favourite, a 12 year old British girl sent to Canada when London was bombed. The only characters repeated were the reporter and the most unusual character, the fire itself. This book held an interest for me because it is New Brunswick history but more importantly my father is an alum of Mount Allison and would have been in attendance the same time as the fire, perhaps even in the residence although I never heard him speak of it nor heard tell of it from anyone in the family. This was a quick enjoyable read rounded up to 4 stars from 3½. I look forward to reading the author’s latest book.
January 28, 2025
A well crafted blend of history and fiction that tells the tale of the tragic 1941 Mount Allison fire. Les multiples points de vue donnent plusieurs perspectives intéressantes et donnent un rythme rapide à la lecture dès les premiers chapitres. Malgré que ce soit moitié fiction, j’en ai quand même appris beaucoup.
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