''Incendiary'' is a novel by British writer

Chris Cleave Chris Cleave (born 1973) is a British writer and journalist. Biography Cleave was born in London on 14 May 1973, brought up in Cameroon and Buckinghamshire, and educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he st ...

. When it was first published in the summer of 2005, it garnered international headlines for the eerie similarity of its plot to the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...

in England carried out on the same day it was published. It won the 2005 Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award. A 2008 film with the same name was based on it.

Narrative

The novel is written as an epistolary first-person novel, in which, the main character, a young mother, writes a letter to

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

after a London incendiary bombing.

Plot summary

A young mother's life is blown apart when her husband and four-year-old son are killed during a bombing at a football match. Following this, the young mother falls into a depression. While the young mother tries to battle her depression, she also must fight the guilt of committing adultery the same day of her son's and husband's death.

Critical reception

The novel received generally positive reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the book received a 54 out of 100 based on eighteen critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In the November/December 2005 issue of '' Bookmarks'', the book was scored four out of five. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Cleave’s debut could be considered the finest post-9/11 terrorism novel yet". ''The Washington Post'' called it "A mezmering tour de force". ''New York Times'' said it was "As benefits good genre fiction, Cleave's characters are sustained, driven and informed by the plot, which dictates and governs all". It also is considered to be "strong, intelligent, heart-breaking and realistic. The author said that principally, the novel is about the feelings of a mother for its children and the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

Film adaptation

The film, loosely based on the book, was released in the UK on Friday, October 24, 2008. It was directed by Sharon Maguire and starring

Michelle Williams Michelle Williams or Michele Williams may refer to: * Michelle Ann Williams (born circa 1965), American public health scholar * Michelle Williams (singer) (born 1979), American singer, previously a member of Destiny's Child * Michelle Williams (actr ...

in the main role, supported by

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and ...

as Jasper Black, and

Matthew MacFadyen David Matthew Macfadyen (; born 17 October 1974) is an English actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he Breakthrough role, gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's ''Pride & Prejudice (2005 film), Pride & Prej ...

as Terrence Butcher. Unlike the book, the film received poor reviews, receiving 23% of approval in the site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

References

2005 British novels British novels adapted into films Chatto & Windus books Novels about terrorism {{2000s-novel-stub