An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England - Softcover

"Clarke manages, with considerable dexterity and flourish, to pull out of the fire a series of absurdist scenarios and radically screwball characters that never stretch credulity...The high drama is mixed with some delightfully plaintive meditations on family life" (Independent on Sunday)

"Wildly, unpredictably funny" (New York Times)

"A tale that fuses tinder-dry comedy with meaningful questions of identity and literature" (Daily Mail)

"A playful, clever novel ... Billed as a novel disguised as a memoir meant as a self-help book, The Arsonist's Guide is also a rather brilliant satire on the culture of modern reading ... A highly enjoyable, absurdist farce." (New Statesman)

"A wonderfully wry, witty escapade." (Esquire)

Sam Pulsifer has come to the end of a very long and unusual journey. He spent ten years in prison for accidentally burning down poet Emily Dickinson's house - and unwittingly killing two people in the process. He emerged aged twenty-eight and set about creating a new life for himself. He went to college, found love, got married, fathered two children, and made a new start - and then watched in almost-silent awe as the vengeful past caught up with him, right at his own front door.

As, one by one, the homes of other famous New England writers are torched, Sam knows that this time he is most certainly not guilty. To prove his innocence, he sets out to uncover the identity of this literary-minded arsonist. What he discovers, and how he deals with the reality of his discoveries, is both hilariously funny and heartbreakingly sad.

An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England is a novel disguised as a memoir; a deeply affecting story about truth and honesty and the damage they do.