Fire Escape (e-book)

$4.00

“There is a device in your home to warn you about smoke and fire. It’s intended to protect you, but most of the time, it’s a nuisance. It interrupts your sleep or bothers your dog or is a disruption at parties when something burns too hot on the stove. You might mutter, This damn thing as you remind yourself, again, to replace its batteries. That alarm exists in your home because of a fire that started in my family.”

On May 28, 1979, Catherine Harrison said good night to her five children and went to bed with her husband, unaware that their pet rabbit knocked over an ashtray with a lit cigarette onto the living room carpet. The ensuing blaze was catastrophic, killing Harrison and her family. In the aftermath, new legislation was passed requiring all homes be equipped with smoke detectors, and Harrison’s extended family were forced to grapple with the devastation of losing a branch of our family tree. Fire Escape is an account of the tragedies that feel unavoidable in retrospect, and how we break out of the stories that define us.

Read an excerpt on the blog, or access this essay and Katie’s complete library of essays, short stories, craft notes, and e-books by becoming a subscriber.

“There is a device in your home to warn you about smoke and fire. It’s intended to protect you, but most of the time, it’s a nuisance. It interrupts your sleep or bothers your dog or is a disruption at parties when something burns too hot on the stove. You might mutter, This damn thing as you remind yourself, again, to replace its batteries. That alarm exists in your home because of a fire that started in my family.”

On May 28, 1979, Catherine Harrison said good night to her five children and went to bed with her husband, unaware that their pet rabbit knocked over an ashtray with a lit cigarette onto the living room carpet. The ensuing blaze was catastrophic, killing Harrison and her family. In the aftermath, new legislation was passed requiring all homes be equipped with smoke detectors, and Harrison’s extended family were forced to grapple with the devastation of losing a branch of our family tree. Fire Escape is an account of the tragedies that feel unavoidable in retrospect, and how we break out of the stories that define us.

Read an excerpt on the blog, or access this essay and Katie’s complete library of essays, short stories, craft notes, and e-books by becoming a subscriber.

Instructions for Download:

After it's purchased, the file is available for download in the Order Confirmation page. Customers will automatically receive the standard order confirmation email, followed by an email containing a link to the file. This link will expire 24 hours after the purchase. If a customer clicks an expired link, we'll send a new link to the email address used for the initial purchase.

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