Cover of River on Fire

Cover: Google Books

River on Fire

by Scott Pratt · 2013

+ Want to read

Randall Smith starts life as a foundling and grows up in the American Midwest of the late 1960s with no one to guide him in the close way a family might. The decade's upheaval surrounds him as he tries to make sense of a world that seems to be coming apart, and the lessons other people offer don't always fit the choices in front of him.

Read more

Told with wit and irony, the novel follows his coming of age through hard lessons and moments of tenderness. It is funny in places and painful in others, and it is written to stay with readers after the last page.

Genre
coming of agecoming of ageMore like thisLess of thishistorical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of this
Themes
childhoodchildhoodMore like thisLess of this
Setting
1960s1960sMore like thisLess of thisUSAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked River on Fire? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked River on Fire. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Miss Ophelia Mary Burnett Smith · 1997 Shares coming of age, historical fiction, fiction
  2. The Man Who Built Boxes and other stories Frank Tavares · 2013 Shares fiction
  3. A Place of Forgetting Carolyn J. Rose · 2011 Shares coming of age, fiction
  4. In the Cherry Tree Dan Pope · 2003 Shares fiction, coming of age
See more recommendations →

“People who read River on Fire tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Journey of Hope Victoria Murata · 2012
  2. I'll Cross the River C. Hope Flinchbaugh · 2008
  3. Mother of Ten JB Rowley · 2013
  4. Pride and Honour: The Battle for Saxony John Lincoln, Nathaniel Burns · 2012

“If you want more of the same (coming of age about childhood), start with these.”

  1. Between parent & teenager Haim G. Ginott · 1969
  2. Think of England: A Novel Alice Elliott Dark · 2002
  3. Demi-Gods Eliza Robertson · 2018
  4. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread Don Robertson · 1965

“If it was the historical fiction that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit Jessica Raya
  2. Believe Me: A Novel Nina Killham · 2009
  3. The Box Children Sharon Wyse · 2002
  4. A Girl Named Sooner Suzanne Clauser · 1972

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Keep Smiling Through Ann Rinaldi · 1994
  2. The Domino Effect Andrew Cotto · 2011
  3. All That's True Jackie Lee Miles · 2010
  4. City of Spies Sorayya Khan · 2015

Report a problem