Gardens of Fire

In 2009, as the Black Saturday wildfires swept through the state of Victoria, Australia, writer and historian Robert Kenny defended his home in Redesdale. His fire plan was sound and he was prepared. But, the reality of the fire was more ferocious and more unpredictable than he could have imagined. By the end of the day, Kenny's house and the life contained within were gone. The years that followed were marked by grieving, recovering, and eventually rebuilding - a process starkly...
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In 2009, as the Black Saturday wildfires swept through the state of Victoria, Australia, writer and historian Robert Kenny defended his home in Redesdale. His fire plan was sound and he was prepared. But, the reality of the fire was more ferocious and more unpredictable than he could have imagined. By the end of the day, Kenny's house and the life contained within were gone. The years that followed were marked by grieving, recovering, and eventually rebuilding - a process starkly framed by the choice between remembering and forgetting. This resulting book is a riveting story of personal loss, woven with intellectual and historical investigations of: fire in the Australian landscape; mythologies of fire; and ideas of loss, home, and community. Offering something of value for the victims of wildfires, this personal account is stimulating writing, edged with beauty, grief, and hope.