Spiegel & Grau, 2026, $32
The old adage states that history repeats itself, but the genre of historical fiction often subscribes to a moral binary which may be even more repetitive. In The Fire Agent, Kingston native David Baerwald deconstructs the genre with a sweeping and epic historical novel of espionage, war, love, and humanity.
Though the novel marks David Baerwald’s literary debut, he has long been well known in the greater artistic world. A platinum-selling recording artist in the 1980s with David & David, Baerwald transitioned from the role of front man to a coveted collaborator and songwriter. He’s written and recorded with such legendary musicians as Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, and Hans Zimmer.
The Fire Agent is a close fictionalization of the actual life of his grandfather, Ernst Baerwald. The story opens at the outset of the 20th century, with Ernst growing into adulthood as a strapping and idealistic violinist in Frankfurt, Germany to an aristocratic and influential Jewish family. Ernst is recruited to work for the company of noted chemist Fritz Haber, whose work on ending world hunger through a synthesis of ammonia in fertilizer would go on to win him a Nobel Prize.
However, like much of the thematic content of the novel, humankind’s discovery leads to ruin, as the mass production of ammonia by Germany allows for Fritz Haber’s utilization of the process to create weapons of mass destruction during World War I.
Handpicked as the Japanese liaison for Haber’s chemical company, (IG Farben), Ernst Baerwald is sent to Tokyo. There, he studies under a samurai named Tetsuo—learning the ways of Japanese culture, the language, and the ancient art of Japanese combat.
Unfortunately, during this time WWI draws closer and Germany and Japan find themselves on opposing sides. The WWI sequences of the novel are harrowing, most notably the collection of scenes where Fritz Haber and the German military elite watch from virtual ivory towers as they test out their mustard gas on an enemy platoon, leading to thousands of macabre deaths—a scene so grisly it immediately leads to the suicide of Haber’s wife, Clara.
Meanwhile, in Asia, the Japanese have little trouble against the scattered German forces, and Ernst Baerwald is captured and sent to Bando, a Japanese POW camp. The fate of this camp mirrors the central struggle of The Fire Agent—the battle between humanity’s desire for control and power versus humanity itself.
In his first months in the Bando prison camp, Ernst and the Germans are held under the iron grip of the cruel and despotic Fujiwara. Yet just when survival seems impossible, the camp is taken over by the far more humane Matsue. The mercy and kindness of the new leadership allows for an orchestra to be started among Ernst and his fellow POWs, leading to one of the more powerful passages in the novel—a true-to-life, uncannily gorgeously written scene with a POW orchestra playing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
After the liberation of Bando, Ernst’s life in Japan spirals into chaos, mirroring the plight of humanity as historic events unfold and both Japan and his German homeland devolve into fascism. Ernst’s life in espionage turns more perilous at every turn, from battles with the Yakuza to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed over 100,000 Japanese civilians. The pacing is at once frantic and gripping, the writing exquisite.
Somehow amid all of this, The Fire Agent also manages to contain one of the more disintictive love stories in recent historical fiction. Ernst initially falls in love with clever and cynical Japanese fashionista Chizuko, then sultry European spy Lina, leading to an epic love triangle which spans decades and fights against the dark history of the nations the protagonists hail from.
Ultimately, Ernst’s home nation of Germany also turns against him, due to their growing fascistic fervor and his own Jewish ethnicity. Ernst is forced to turn his spy work from the nation he once belonged to, and work with the United States. All of the myriad characters are propelled toward a striking conclusion with the onset of World War II.
David Baerwald’s debut novel is a triumph—a well-paced, emotional, and educational tale of humankind’s struggle to retain compassion and dignity in an often-brutal world. This modern-day epic is a gorgeous tapestry—an espionage thriller, an historical masterpiece and a dynamic love story which will leave readers breathless.
