'Woodsburner' fires off from a real incident in Thoreau's life. In 1844, a year before he built the cabin on Walden Pond, Thoreau managed to accidentally start a forest fire that razed three hundred acres of Concord woods. It's a gripping and rather comic scene that sets the perfect tone for this debut novel. The vision of Thoreau and his companion, Edward Sherman Hoar, running about trying to stomp out the flames as they leap from branch to branch, is written with deft humor and restrained poetry.