The Thread of Flame

"The Thread of Flame" by Basil King is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story centers around an unnamed protagonist who wakes up disoriented on a ship, struggling with memory loss and searching for his identity as he travels back to New York. As he interacts with other passengers, including a blind man named Drinkwater and a young woman named Lydia Blair, the protagonist grapples with feelings of alienation and the fragments of a life he cannot yet recall. The opening of the book introduces the protagonist awakening in a cramped cabin aboard a ship, confused about his past and the circumstances that led him there. He encounters Drinkwater, who is blind, and learns from him that he has been asleep for over twenty-four hours since boarding. As memories elude him, he tries to piece together his identity while navigating the ship and interacting with Drinkwater, who starts to consider him as a friend. The tension of absent memories mixed with the dynamics of forming new connections lays the groundwork for a story that explores themes of identity, belonging, and the search for one's place in the world amidst the chaos of modern life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

William Benjamin Basil King was a Canadian clergyman who became a writer after retiring from the clergy. His novels and non-fiction were spiritually oriented.