The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories [Paperback]

Kim Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2007

The first story collection from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter

With The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards touched hearts across the nation. In this, her first collection of stories-now with three new stories added-she explores the lives of those who exist on the fringes of society: a fire-eater, an American and his Korean war bride, Madame Curie's maid, and others. Though their tales vary dramatically, each comes up against the barriers of place and circumstance in the most universal of experiences: the quest to discover and understand the elusive mysteries of love. Transporting readers to exotic locations, this beautiful collection reinforces Edwards's presence as an extraordinarily gifted writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edwards's debut collection features 11 beguiling, exquisitely crafted tales of transformation and the challenges of love. Bernadette Dunne provides deep emotional nuance to her reading, conveying precisely the awe of a first-time skydiver, the quiet desperation of an Asian mail-order bride or the surprise and jealousy of an old-guard colonialist wife meeting a modern-minded newcomer. Still, where on the page Edwards's writing springs to life and exerts a peculiar magic over the reader, here it's somewhat diminished, less captivating and singular. The stories have impressively diverse and realistically described settings, some reaching back in time by a century, others taking place on the other side of the world, but apart from the occasional use of a light French or British accent, Dunne's presentation does not vary with the stories, so after a while they begin to blend together. Listeners will appreciate Dunne's skillful handling of Edwards's poetic prose, but the production lacks any real sparks that would illuminate and complement the author's achievement of imagination in conjuring such different worlds so convincingly. A Penguin paperback (Reviews, Feb. 25, 1997).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Many of the award-winning stories in this first collection feature strong, pragmatic women as protagonists, usually motivated by love in its broadest sense: A 19-year-old finds hidden strength after skydiving with an unstable boyfriend; a lonely, uprooted Asian woman makes a life in America; the cleaning woman of a famous scientist idolizes her employer despite suffering physically because of his experiments; a wife connects best with her husband during the time of their greatest challenge. Edwards utilizes her perceptual ability and keen eye for detail to delineate believable characters, many of whom are facing unique challenges. Their haunting situations are effectively complemented by unusual settings in Asia, America and Europe. Recommended for all literary collections.?Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143112309
• ISBN-13: 978-0143112303
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Edwards grew up in Skaneateles, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes region. The oldest of four children, she graduated from Colgate University and the University of Iowa, where she received an MFA in Fiction and an MA in Linguistics. After completing her graduate work, she went with her husband to Asia, where they spent the next five years teaching, first on the rural east coast of Malaysia, then in a small city an hour south of Tokyo, and finally in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

During her time in Asia, Kim began to publish short fiction, and in 1990 her story 'Sky Juice' won the Nelson Algren Award. Her stories and essays have since appeared in a wide range of periodicals, including Ploughshares, Zoetrope, Anteaus, Story, and The Paris Review. They have won many honors, including a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Fiction and a Pushcart Prize, as well as inclusion in The Best American Short Stories. Two of her stories have been performed at Symphony Space and broadcast on Public Radio International. Kim has also received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council, among others. Her story collection The Secrets of a Fire King was short-listed for the 1998 Pen/Hemingway Award.

Penguin will reissue The Secrets of a Fire King in 2007.

Kim Edwards received a Whiting Writers' Award in 2002. She has taught in the MFA programs at Warren Wilson and Washington University, and is currently an assistant professor at The University of Kentucky. Her novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, was selected for a Barnes and Noble Discovery Award and won the Kentucky Literary Award for Fiction in 2005. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, a #1 New York Times Best Seller in the United States, will also be published in Italy, Japan, Brazil, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Portugal, Spain, Poland, China, Taiwan, Israel, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Gems in "Secrets of a Fire King", July 14, 2009

By 

K.T. May "Kailyn" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories (Paperback)

I was rummaging through the $5 book bin at Borders a few months ago and I stumbled across this hidden gem. The cover seemed interesting and then I noticed the author, Kim Edwards, the same woman who wrote, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". I have also purchased that book but still have yet to read it. But I liked how the plot of that book sounded so I figured, why not? It's only $5--let me check this out. I opened it up to reveal soft, thin pages, which, for me, somehow always makes a book more enjoyable to read. I flipped through some of the pages to the middle to read an excerpt. This is my trick to get a quick glimpse of the author's style to determine if it would be something I would be interested in reading. The excerpt that I read seemed delightful. The author had a flair for description and wrote in such a way that when I traipse upon one of these delectable kinds of books, I feel like I am indulging in a guilty pleasure, a kind of expression not often enough incorporated into today's modern works. I was convinced enough to spend the money, so I picked up the book and it was the only thing I purchased that day.

The book spent a few months on my bookshelf as I went through a few other books that I deemed more interesting at the time. Then the time came that I just wanted to clear up some space and read some of the thinner books on my shelf, thereby slowly thinning out my collection. I noticed this book again and said, sure, why not? I sat down with it on my couch and was enraptured. I usually only read the first chapter of a book when I start to get a basic feel for the book. If I can stop then, I know it's nothing too special but if I continue on, I know I have found that rare book that so captures my attention that it will be a quick read and a long memory. I read three stories that first night!

"The Secrets of a Fire King" is a collection of short stories that deal with the human spirit--unknown strengths we never realized we had, or getting in touch with the part of you that you never realized existed and upon discovery, you realize you don't really like. A particularly touching story for me was "Spring Mountain Sea", the second story in the book. In this story, we meet a man who takes a foreigner for a wife and despite wanting to hold on to her traditional values, tries to assimilate into his American culture, only to be betrayed in the end by the people she had come to trust. In the tragic title story, we meet a magician who falls madly in love with a woman whose brother idolizes him and wants to be a magician also. Unfortunately, a betrayal soon occurs which will change the lives of all three of them forever. In "The Way It Felt to Be Falling", we meet a young girl who discovers strength she never knew she had after sky-diving with her boyfriend.

If you are a fan of stories that deviate from the norm to teach a lesson and that are written beautifully in an almost poetic sense, I strongly suggest you pick up this collection by Kim Edwards. One thing is for sure, I will definitely be reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" sooner than I expected! Kim Edwards is an excellent story-teller and I can't wait to read more stories from her.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Details are sublime, September 2, 2008

By 

M. Grimard "BelowHerReadingLevel" (State of Maine USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories (Paperback)

This book had better writing than "Memory Keeper", and I am shocked at the reviews to the contrary. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not enough to say (if said very well), May 23, 2011

By 

William J. Feuer "awjfire" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories (Paperback)

If this book had been shy a few stories I would have given it 5 stars. Edwards writes well. The way she sequences words is often described as "exquisite" or something, but ultimately I got tired of her narrative voice and I think she ran out of material. Does a collection really need two stories featuring the poisonous effects of radium, unexpected at the time of its discovery? I highly recommend these: "Falling", "Spring, Mountain, Sea", "Chain of Being"; also good are "Balance" and "Fire King." "The Invitation" has a clever premise but wound up in the air (according to me). The rest, well... Ho hum. I was lucky enough to spend some time in peninsular Malaysia and Borneo but the stories concerned with that area got repetitive. Pet peeve: I wish these stories featured fewer "shafts of light." BTW, I subsequently found out that the stories I liked all seem to be freely available on [...].