Wood-burning fireplaces have always been an inseparable part of domestic comfort, warmth and cosiness. They not only provide a pleasant temperature but also create an atmosphere of calm, romance, intimacy and home. It is no surprise, then, that wood-burning fireplaces are so often mentioned in fiction.
Top 10 works of fiction that mention a wood-burning fireplace
Of course, a fireplace appears in a great many books, since it was a common source of heat for centuries. For this top ten we have picked books in which the fireplace plays a meaningful part in the story, or is described as an important element of the interior.
1. "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
This novel tells of events during the American Civil War. The wood-burning fireplace plays an important role as the place where the characters gather to discuss the news and their own thoughts.
2. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In this iconic American novel, with its remarkable portrait of the Jazz Age, the wood fireplace is an inseparable part of the houses of New York's elite, where the main characters live. The fireplace speaks of their status and wealth and creates a particular atmosphere in those luxurious homes.
3. "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
The fireplace in this Christmas story is the centre of the domestic warmth that the miserly Scrooge so badly lacks. Key scenes of the book take place by the fire, and its warmth becomes a symbol of humanity and of the hero's transformation.
4. "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
The fireplace appears in this book as one of the essential details used to build an atmosphere of dread. It does not merely create comfort: it is also the setting where Jonathan Harker learns about the secrets of Count Dracula.
5. "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King
In King's cycle, warmth and a place to shelter are recurring motifs: a fire in the dark marks the boundary between danger and a brief moment of safety. The hearth here is less a piece of furniture than a sign that a person can find warmth and inspiration in the most unexpected places.
6. "The Foundation Pit" by Andrei Platonov
Platonov's novel describes the life of ordinary people in the Soviet provinces. Heat and shelter are among its constant themes: where the stove is, there is a chance to warm up, cook and survive the cold season — and the absence of that warmth becomes a measure of how harsh the world of the book is.
7. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
The second book in the Harry Potter series features a magical fireplace that connects the ordinary world with the magical one. This fireplace is an important part of the plot, because it is through the fire that the characters travel between places.
8. "A Game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin
In the world of "A Game of Thrones" the wood-burning fireplace is an inseparable part of everyday life in Westeros. The book also portrays many different kinds of hearth, from the plainest to the most lavish, which mark out the different social layers.
9. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle
The fireplace at 221B Baker Street is one of the most recognisable details in world literature. Holmes and Watson discuss their cases by the fire, and it is precisely this picture that creates a sense of comfort and safety in the middle of foggy London.
10. "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
In cold English houses the fireplace marks the border between comfort and estrangement. The scenes by the fire at Thornfield are among the warmest in the novel: it is there that the heroine feels at home for the first time.
Why does the fireplace appear so often in fiction?
Because it does two jobs at once. Physically it is a source of heat, and dramatically it is a reason to gather people in one room and let them talk. That is why the hearth turns up equally in a Gothic novel, in a Victorian detective story and in a fantasy epic: it gives the author a natural stage.
How do you make such a corner in your own home?
A modern fireplace is not an open hearth but a closed appliance with heat-resistant glass, in which most of the heat returns to the room instead of escaping up the chimney. If you would like a reading corner by the fire, start with straight steel inserts or corner inserts, and if you do not want to build a surround at all — with steel fireplace stoves. The system is completed by a properly chosen chimney.