Firestarter: From Shelford hero to the gallows on Castle HIll

Firestarter: The Fiery Life and Controversial Death of John Stallon, the Shelford Arsonist is part true-crime mystery, part historical investigation. Set in the early 19th century, it is the tale of a farm worker who gains notoriety for setting multiple fires on farms in a village near to Cambridge. It is also the story of how that village determines to rid itself of a man whose actions are not only disruptive but are a distraction from the drive for ‘progress’.

Was Stallon a revolutionary or a compulsive sociopath? A wronged man or a terrorist? History can’t tell us with certainty which of these labels fits John Stallon best, but each reader can make their own judgment, based on the evidence Firestarter claws back from history’s obscure sources.

Join Fraser Grace, author of Firestarter, as he reads from his book and talks about the joys and challenges of bringing ‘undocumented lives’ from the nineteenth century into print.

You may also like the following events from The Museum of Cambridge:

• Next month, 17th October, 01:00 pm, The Strange History and Homelife of Renaissance Magicians in Cambridge
• Next month, 31st October, 06:00 pm, The Strange Creatures and Mysterious Beings of Cambridgeshire in Cambridge
• This November, 6th November, 01:00 pm, A Cambridge Diary: A 365 day project that took 13 years in Cambridge

Also check out other Arts events in Cambridge, Literary Art events in Cambridge.