The Fire Within (novel)

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Infobox Book
name = The Fire Within
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Chris D'Lacey
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = The Fire Within series
subject =
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Scholastic Press
release_date = 2001
media_type = Print (Paperback), (Hardback)
pages = 304 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-439-67244-9
preceded_by =
followed_by = Icefire

"The Fire Within" is a 2001 children's novel written by author Chris D'Lacey. It has a sequel named "Icefire", which is followed by "Fire Star" and "The Fire Eternal", coming in August 2008.

Plot summary

warning, plot details and spoilers follow

"The Fire Within" is about a man named David Rain. He goes to a college and needs somewhere to stay. He finds a house on Wayward Crescent and moves in, but little did he know that one step into the house would change his life forever.

The owner of the house, Elizabeth Pennykettle (Liz for short), gladly lets David stay with her and Lucy, her daughter. Liz earns her living by making clay dragons, and there is a lot of mystery surrounding them. And Lucy loves squirrels, and brings it on David to help her catch a blind-in-one-eye grey squirrel she named Conker.

As a welcome present, David gets a free dragon from Liz. He names the dragon Gadzooks and learns Zookie (his nickname for the dragon) is a writing dragon, a dragon who is going to help him find inspiration to write stories.

Finally David and Lucy catch Conker and another squirrel named Snigger,presumably Snigger plays a part in saving Conker after Lucy asks him too, takes them to the local animal shelter, where a girl, Sophie (who David has a crush on), works. She takes both the squirrels in and Lucy tells Sophie that David is writing a story, and also exclaims "He'll write a story for you too if you ask him", about them for her. Sophie is interested in reading it and promises she'll call when she has news about Conker. Sophie calls after a few days and comes over with good and bad news about Conker. Conker's not really blind, but he has kidney failure and is going to die. Later, Conker dies and David finishes the story, earning him Sophie's heart.

Characters

Humans

Elizabeth Pennykettle "(Liz)" - The landlady and the maker of the mysterious clay dragons. Her dragon is Guinevere. She is a motherly figure to both Lucy and David. Lucy Pennykettle - Liz's daughter, and an 11 year-old girl that strongly believes in dragons like her mother, but can be very mischievous.She says she would like to be a gymnastic champion when she grows up. She loves wild animals, especially squirrels. Her dragon is Gwendolen.

David Rain - A tenant and college student that has some thoughts of dragons and is somewhat emotional. He has a crush on Sophie. He wrote Snigger and the Nutbeast for Lucy's 11th Birthday as a "Special Present." His dragon is Gadzooks. As his story unfolds he notices a similarity between his story and real life happenings.

Mr. Henry Bacon - Liz's next door neighbor who greatly annoys her, putting his nose into business he should not. He believes that Mrs. P (as what he likes to call Liz) cannot live by herself, so whenever he hears about something occurring in the Pennykettle house he always has something that he thinks will fix the problem. He is also a librarian at the Scrubbley Library.

Guinevere - A beautiful and kind girl from an age long past who caught Gawain's fire tear. She seems to have a love connection with the dragon in Liz's story's.

Gwendolen - Guinevere's daughter made by the sibyl from clay, hair, and scale. Before Guinevere disappeared she told her daughter to always remember that her father was the dragon Gawain.

Sophie - David's crush, and later girlfriend. She plays a major role in saving Conker. She can be very shy.

Greenfingers George "(Mr. Digwell)" - A man that works in the library gardens. He seems very gruff and impatient at times.His Wife bought one of Liz's dragons. He is described as being very small.

Dragons and Animals

Gawain - The last real dragon of the world; he is supposedly dead. Liz has a model dragon of him also, David said that he looked ferocious. David also said that he wouldn't want to meet him in a long, dark alley.

Guinevere - The one who caught Gawain's fire tear, Liz made a model dragon of her. David said that when he looked at her he saw Liz in her. David also wondered what her pose meant, she looked like she was praying but when he asked Lucy she said she was "making fire."

Gwendolen "(pronounced Gwendolen)" - Guinevere's daughter, Liz made a model dragon of her also. David said that when he looked at her he saw Lucy in her.

Gadzooks - David's story writing dragon. He holds a pencil and a pad. David affectionately refers to him as "Zookie."

Grace - Sophie's listening dragon. She plays a significant role in the second book "Icefire".

Gruffen - A guard dragon who protects the Dragon's Den.

Caractacus - A crow that lives in Mr. Bacon's backyard. He attacks David when he goes in the attic to find a rabbit hutch.

Bonnington - The Pennykettles' house cat who likes to get under stuff. He is a tabby cat that Mr. Bacon does not like. It is also stated that he was named after a mountain climber. (although he couldn't climb a beanbag)

quirrels

Conker - An injured squirrel that Lucy and David try to save because they think he is blind.

Snigger - A squirrel that David found at the library gardens. Gadzooks helps name him by writing "Snigger" on his pad. David thinks the name suits him because he has the ability to smile.

Cherrylea - A squirrel that Lucy found. She said that she named her Cherrylea because her fur was red like a cherry and after a brand of rice pudding.

Shooter - A squirrel that Lucy found. She named him Shooter because when he runs you can barely see him.

Ringtail - A squirrel that Lucy found. She named him Ringtail because he had rings around his tail.

Birchwood - A squirrel that Lucy found at the library gardens and named after the birchwood tree he lives in. She said he was a big bully to all the other squirrels. His tummy was also silver. Near the end of the book David said that in his story he would make Birchwood the father of Conker.