{"id":251019,"date":"2026-07-13T00:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/after-the-fire-daniel-robinson\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:54:19","slug":"after-the-fire-daniel-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/after-the-fire-daniel-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"After The Fire – Daniel Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Harp paced between the front yard\u2019s two sections. The soft pad of his feet on grass was interrupted by the click of his toenails on concrete when he crossed the sidewalk leading to the front steps. Barnes returned to his chair and sat back down across from Call. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to face it,\u201d Call said. He looked hard and straight at Barnes, his eyes flat and narrow but not unkind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to face it,\u201d he repeated. \u201cI know,\u201d Barnes said, looking from Call down at the painted wood of the floor. Since last summer, since the fire that killed half his crew, he had felt left behind, a remnant left by life. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy,\u201d Call said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be the hardest thing you ever do, but you have to face what happened and accept that you did not cause it.\u201d \u201cI just keep asking the same question, though,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cI keep asking \u2018Why?\u2019\u201d \u201cBarnes,\u201d Grace said from the lawn. Her body looked tiny and fragile. \u201cYes,\u201d Barnes answered. \u201cJust think about it.\u201d With Ruth in the kitchen and Call upstairs reading stories to Grace, Barnes stood in the familiar theme of Call\u2019s office. Although Call held a doctorate, he did not keep his diplomas on his wall.<\/p>\n

Hung there were photographs of his time\u2014his family and his war. He had returned from Asia with medals and wounds and dreams and nightmares, then returned to teach history at the university in Fort Collins. After retiring from teaching, he continued to read and write studies of the past in hopes of understanding the future. Mostly, though, and in the last handful of years, he listened for his granddaughter\u2019s song.<\/p>\n

Barnes stood in the arcs of light tossed haphazardly by the room\u2019s floor lamps and studied the photographs hung on the office wall. The room was neither lavish nor ostentatious, nor was it naked or impersonal. Like Call, there was no single striking feature in the room, but everything, the oak desk to the photographs to the dark cherry bookcases filled with hardcover editions, was right, and each accented the others in simple dignity.<\/p>\n

The single set of double-hung windows looked out onto the front porch and from there toward Mountain Avenue, a much quieter street when Call first moved his family into the house. A wardrobe-sized cabinet held rolls of maps in its cubbyholes, each map detailing elements of some European battle Call had written about.<\/p>\n

The two leather chairs Barnes and Call often sat in to share Bushmills showed the dimpled impressions of their bodies.<\/p>\n

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Praise for Daniel Robinson and After the Fire \u201cLiterate and moving, [After the Fire] is as rich in character as it is in place. . . . Robinson\u2019s writing engages you with a kind of terrible beauty. . . . [T]he courage in Robinson\u2019s writing will lead him forward. This is a solid debut and clearly there are more to come.\u201d \u2014Bloomsbury Review \u201cA touching debut. . . . [A] poignant story about the \u2018pull of the past,\u2019 affectingly warm and compassionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Publishers Weekly \u201cA powerful, emotional story, one that will instill in readers a renewed appreciation for the heroic young people fighting wildfires.\u201d \u2014Rocky Mountain Post \u201cThe fire line scenes are so rich that you can smell the smoke, hear the clink of tools, and find yourself a part of the action. . . . Some of the fire line passages are priceless; some of the best stuff ever written about [fire] crews. . . . After the Fire is a very good first novel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Wildland Firefighter \u201cHere\u2019s one of those remarkably mature first novels. The author has put together a story that\u2019s dramatic, exciting, affecting, and memorable. . . . Robinson mixes memories of fire fighting with some intense psychological and philosophical ruminations. Robinson clearly has a storytelling gift, and that helps him keep the story grounded in everyday reality. A fine debut.\u201d \u2014Booklist \u201cA brilliant, complex, engaging novel about a fire fighter, a Vietnam veteran, and a woman whose pasts intertwine with and impact their personal lives.<\/p>\n

Barnes has lost comrades to a violent fire; Call also saw a fellow soldier die in Vietnam; and Ruth is experiencing a failing marriage. By skillfully using flashbacks and meaningful interactions, Robinson has created an intensely believable study of love, loss, and recovery in the face of life\u2019s extreme tragedies. The final scene with Ruth\u2019s daughter is moving and unforgettable.<\/p>\n

After the Fire is a memorable first novel by an impressive writer.\u201d \u2014John Clark Pratt, author of Vietnam Voices \u201cDaniel Robinson has written a fine book. It is peopled with vital characters engaged in a life of action. And, as in all fine books, the actions have universal consequences that the reader must listen to. Read it and understand more about the New American West, fire fighting, and life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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