Allen & Unwin Philadelphia Fire book Fiction English Paperback 256 pages

The lyrical masterpiece from John Edgar Wideman, one of the standout black American writers of the twentieth century.

From 'one of America's premier writers of fiction' (New York Times) comes this novel inspired by the 1985 police bombing of a West Philadelphia row house. The bombing killed eleven people and started a fire that destroyed sixty other houses. At the centre of the story is Cudjoe, a writer and exile who returns to his old neighborhood after spending a decade fleeing from his past, and his search for the lone survivor of the fire - a young boy who was seen running from the flames.One of the most ambitious and highly praised works of fiction, Philadelphia Fire is an impassioned, brutally honest journey through the despair and horror of life in urban America.

John Edgar Wideman's books include Writing to Save a Life, Philadelphia Fire, Brothers and Keepers, Fatheralong, Hoop Dreams, and Sent for You Yesterday. He is a MacArthur Fellow and has won the PEN/Faulkner Award twice and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and National Book Award. He divides his time between New York and France.