Fire Bell in the Night: A Novel by
Geoffrey Edwards
Focus On The Character Of The South
Filled with historic details of the time, Fire Bell in the Night explores the
explosive tension between North and South, black and white, that gripped
Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 1850. Geoffrey S. Edwardss
first novel tells the story of New York Tribune reporter John Sharp, sent to
cover the capital trial of Darcy Calhoun, a farmer who stands accused of
harboring a fugitive slave.As the trial begins, John quickly realizes that not
everything is as it appears in the genteel city of Charleston. A series of
mysterious fires in white establishments brings the state militia, a curfew
for the black population, and rising tension at the courthouse. To unravel
the citys secrets, Sharp must enter Charlestons plantation society, where
he is befriended by Tyler Breckenridge, owner of the Willowby plantation,
and his beautiful sister Clio. Set against the backdrop of a nation headed
toward civil war, Fire Bell in the Night is a page-turning account of a trial
and one young reporters efforts to discover the truth.

Personal Review: Fire Bell in the Night: A Novel by Geoffrey
Edwards
It is the protagonist, John Sharp, in Geoffrey Edwards novel who comands
center stage in this novel, The Bell in the Night. A story set in Charleston,
SC, in the decade before the civil war, it deals with the devilish question of
a farmer being tried for harboring a fugitive slave. Sharp has come from
New York to report the story for his newspaper back home. As foils for the
protagonist, Edwards presents a sterotypical handsome and intelligent
planter, and his beautiful sister, a rambunctious young partying, bon vivant
reporter, and opens the story with the death of yet another reporter whose
death under the wheels of a carriage seems to be suspicious.
Although these many characters are well portrayed, the reader is still held
like moth to candle by the relatively casual way Sharp goes about his duty
in squeezing information from an often hostile environment. The reader
watches transfixed with fear as Sharp seems unaware of those in
Charleston, the rich and powerful, as well as ignorant bigots who would
destroy him. As an added fillip to the main plot surprising back stories of
the planter, his romantically inclined sister, and an alien group that plot to
hasten the coming civil war add to the satisfyng conclusion of this first rete
novel.
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