Held Fire

Text 1: Turning Point, by Eleri Northcote

An original novel extract.

The glass at the end of the iron was no larger than a plum, but it held the furnace inside it: orange folding over yellow, bright enough to erase the shadows beneath Mara’s hands.

‘Keep turning,’ Ivo said.

Mara rolled the iron along the metal rails of the bench. The movement was as regular as the second hand of the clock above the door. As long as the iron moved, the glass stayed centred. As long as she watched the glass, she could almost forget the heat pressing against her face.

Then the shop bell rang.

Ivo glanced towards the curtain. ‘Don’t stop.’ He disappeared into the front room.

The glass did not know he had gone. It lengthened as Mara watched, slowly at first, then with purpose, a glowing drop making its own decision to fall. She turned faster. The iron clicked against the rails. The drop swung left, then right, each arc wider than the last.

Too fast.

Mara’s fingers tightened. Every part of her wanted to hold the iron still, but stillness was the one thing she could not allow.

Turn. Lift. Breathe.

She reduced the whole workshop to those three words. She lifted the iron, found the rhythm again and blew carefully into the mouthpiece. The glass widened. Its wild swinging shortened to a tremble.

When Ivo returned, he stopped two paces away. He did not reach for the iron.

‘Again,’ he said.

Mara breathed, turned and watched. By the time the colour had faded from yellow to a dull red, the vessel leaned slightly to one side. It was not beautiful. It was still in one piece.

How does Eleri Northcote use language and structure to present the changing balance between control and danger as Mara shapes the glass, and to shape the reader’s view of how successful the final outcome is?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.