Miss X by Rosemary Timperley

She lives in one room at the top of a lodging-house. One night there is a violent explosion. Objects tumble and glass shatters. She hurries to the door, opens it, and sees fire coming up the stairs - silent fire, because the blast seems to have robbed her of her hearing. She retreats to the window and climbs out on to the sill. She looks up at the starless sky. So this is the end, she thinks. Then she looks down, sees a ladder, and a fireman coming to save her.

Without possessions and in a state of shock, she is removed to the world of "Halfway House", where she is given temporary accommodation. Here she meets strangers who turn into friends, or foes, and there follows a series of adventures.

In this book she tells her own story of events after the fire, and since, for much of the time, she cannot remember her own name, I have called her Miss X.