The Book of Fire

This book made me feel every emotion. I love Christy Lefteri’s writing. The Beekeeper of Aleppo is an amazing book but The Book of Fire is an outstanding read. From the very first page I knew I would love it.
I could feel the fire on my back. I could feel myself getting tired trying to stay afloat. I became absorbed by this story.
I read The Book of Fire in one sitting and I can’t recommend it enough.
A huge 5 stars!

I would have liked this book better if it had been told chronologically, instead of going forwards and backwards in time, as is the fashion these days. The descriptions of the fire, destruction and terror experienced by the characters are visceral and horrific. The revenge the villagers take is shocking but can be understood. They were all eventually able to move on but at a cost. A powerful story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Life was idyllic in Irini Diamandis’s beautiful Greek village, surrounded as it was by ancient forest. That was until the fire. This terrible tragedy had such an impact on everyone she knew, and eventually, Irini felt the need to put it all down in writing. The journal was about her journey both before and after the fire. It was discovered that the fire was started deliberately by one person, but the repercussions were felt by everyone.

Irini would prefer to start the journal with “Long long ago “, however, it wasn’t long long ago, it was very recent - a raging uncontrollable fire that consumed her village, the fire spreading from the lush forests right down to the sea, swallowing up whatever and whoever stood in its way. The fire had life changing consequences for Irini’s family and friends leaving them hurt and lost and broken, and there were those who didn’t even make it. It also altered the landscape of her beautiful Greek island, and would do for many years to come, - the utter desolation, the many homes in ruins, wildflowers, the fir, olive and pine trees all gone, the wildlife destroyed, the smells of lavender and rosemary and thyme no longer filled the air.

Her daughter Chara was left badly scarred, something she will have to live with for life, and husband Tasso, who was a talented artist, his hands are now burnt and scarred, no longer able to paint his beloved forest - in addition, he’s been left deeply traumatised, frozen in time by the fact that he was unable to save someone - the guilt just too much to bear.

Irini too is consumed with guilt. It’s a guilt she shouldn’t really feel because it involved the man who actually started the fire - the one who has caused all the heartache and death and suffering - and yet she does feel guilt, as one human being to another.

The Book of Fire is a moving testament to the human spirit - to the powers of redemption and renewal after such a tragic event, with its ensuing pain, misery and hardship that makes one wonder at the fortitude and perseverance required to both live and survive such devastating consequences. There are scenes in the book that are silent, full instead of meaningful thoughts and observations, but they convey so much without words, and I don’t mind admitting that they left me tearful. Christy Lefteri is a magician when it comes to the written word, and although the story is about a devastating event, beauty pours forth from her prose, and this, and the storyline will stay with me for some time to come. Poignant, but extremely powerful and beautiful!

The Book of Fire is an intense read, taking you from grief and despair to understanding. Irini and her family are devastated by a fire that destroys everything they love and care for. It was started deliberately by a man who wanted something so badly he set fire to the forest but didn’t realise how devastating it would be. The author writes so movingly and from the heart about the destruction caused by greed, survivor guilt and the way people cope with tragedy and grief. How people look for hope and longing for things to return to how they were, but knowing they never will. The story is told partly using flashbacks which sometimes felt a bit clumsy to me, but didnt detract from the story. It was thought provoking and made me wonder what I would have done in Irinis situation. How do you cope with the loss of your way of life. Excellent read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book..

Wow, this one is very intense. I knew I was going to get into it easily from the beginning. I don't know if enjoyed is the right word for such a devastating story, I don't know what I would do in such a situation. My only issue with it is that goes forwards and backwards instead of being told in chronological order, which made it difficult for me to regain focus on the story at points. Other than that, outstanding!

I'm a huge fan of Christy Lefteri's previous work, so I was delighted to be approved for an e-arc of her latest novel.

The Book Of Fire takes us on a journey of a family who is displaced after a forest fire that is started by a man who wants to build a hotel business in their small greek town, it's a story of survival and great loss and what home means.
Irini is a musician who lives with her artist husband, Tasso, and their young daughter Chara in a house surrounded by forest and nature when disaster strikes, altering their lives forever. Nothing will ever be the same, and they all deal with great trauma whilst trying to stay connected as a family and overcome the hurdles they face, both physically and mentally. What happens when everything you know and worked for is snatched from you? How can you ever recover?

Christy has such a talent for writing emotive storylines, and The Book of Fire is no exception. I read this over just 24 hours and couldn't put it down. There's layer upon layer to this story, and I loved the depth of emotional conflict that the characters experience, As the reader It really makes you question what you would do in the circumstances these people are faced with. I really related to Irini as a mother and the love she has for her family. Although she sometimes made choices I didn't necessarily agree with, I could feel her desperation and wanted her to find the solace she needed.
Ultimately, it is a story of what it means to belong to a community and a land. It's a story of tragedy and ultimately hope. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It's not an easy read, and there are parts of it that are quite graphic, so do check trigger warnings.

I love Christy Lefteri’s writing so unsurprisingly I adored this book. Read in an afternoon at breakneck speed it has left me not daring to breathe. How can a book be so desolate and yet so expectant and humbling at the same time?
After her first two very different novels I would have thought that the author would be running out of ideas for Anglo Greek stories and yet here is The Book of Fire.
The novel deals with the destructive power of a wildfire and the affects it has on both the natural landscape and the humans that live there and it’s causes, man’s greed and arrogance and climate change. Throughout the story Irini tells us of her late father in laws doom like pronouncements that the ground is too dry, that it will become a desert and how he cannot understand why people do not listen to him “it is like my tongue is growing hair!” With the world beating up and more and more wildfires breaking out every year this book is bang on the money when it comes to demonstrating the far reaching affects of ignoring climate change and how those who work the land have been yelling into a void about it for many years now. Hand in hand with climate change comes human greed and desire for constant development of rural areas, deforestation and pollution and in The Book of Fire Irini’s daughter Chara shows how meaningful even the smallest acts can be when she adopts a badly burnt Jackal pup and nurses him back to health. Her adolescent clear sightedness enables her to cope with the huge tragedy that has befallen her community and her family and yet begin to document what is left of her beloved forest in drawings made from charcoal she finds in the ashes.
Irini’s personal therapy of journaling the story of what she has experienced as a storybook, depersonalising it to ‘the mother’ ‘the child’ ‘the kind people’ is her way of preserving their history and getting the events straight in her own mind without risking any further damage to her psyche. I found it very telling that Lefteri had the mother of the book escape from the fire uninjured while her daughter and husband both suffered terrible, permanent disfigurement from burns. As is so often the case the mother is the glue that holds everything together, allowing everyone around her to breakdown why she remains stoic and caring, focussed on the needs of others. Irini’s strong and loving relationship with her Dad and his way of connecting with her through stories provides her with the ability to care for herself and teach future generations the lessons she wants them to learn using story telling.
There is so much more that I could write about this book, the layers are subtle, the descriptions beautiful and haunting and the characters full of flaws and talents, likes, dislikes and quirks and they will live in my head for some time to come.

I really enjoyed Christy Lefteri's previous novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, so I was thrilled to find she had written a new novel. The Book of Fire is set in a small rural village in contemporary Greece and is mostly told from the perspective of Irini. The narrative concerns the immediate and the far-reaching effects of an intentionally set fire which went out of control, causing loss of human, animal and plant life but also a loss of community and innocence.
Irini is a musician. Her husband Tasso is an artist. They live with their young daughter Chara and their greyhound. One morning they suddenly become aware of a fire speedily approaching them through the forest and flee, taking nothing with them. Part of the story is Irini recounting in writing the days of and immediately following the fire (The Book of Fire). The other part of the story is set a few weeks later when the aftermath is still being felt.
This is a beautifully written, if harrowing, book. The characters are really well crafted and the relationships between them are so realistically described. While it is a story of one family and the fire it is so much more than that, concerning itself with the impact of climate change and human greed but also with all the best aspects of human kindness and love. The beauty and importance of nature and art in all their forms are celebrated throughout the novel, as are strong bonds between people , and between people and animals.
I highly recommend this latest novel from Christy Lefteri. It is a book I shall return to.
My thanks to the publisher Bonnier Books UK, via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this title. I have provided this honest review voluntarily.

I am such a huge fan of Christy Lefteri’s writing.
She writes beautifully emotive pieces of work that really makes you feel so deeply for the characters and the hardships they have to face.
The book of fire is written in the present (after the fire) and from the past detailing the events of the fire, which is cleverly written as a story by the main character as her way of getting it all down paper.
The relationships between the mother, father and daughter are deep and meaningful but not without their flaws which makes for a truly realistic relationship.
A wonderful and evocative story, I devoured this one!

I asked for this because I've read her other two books - both excellent and this was no exception. A terribly sad story, beautifully told and heartfelt. I will definitely be reading her next novel.

A powerful, captivating and absorbing story. The Big Fire central to it all.
It is a tale that has everything - tension, secrets, love, community and family.
Lefteri cleverly weaves a story full of tension, but with some delightful lighter moments with a slight touch of humour e.g when the mother's father uses Cockney slang such as 'apples and pears' and 'once upon a Harry Lime', though he is a Greek.
Five stars from me. I loved it.

After reading the Beekeeper of Aleppo last year and being so moved by the story, I knew I had to read this one. And once again, Christy Lefteri has crafted a story of such grief and pain, but also one of hope and love.

After a fire devastates a small Greek town situated within a forest, the townspeople who survived are forced to try and rebuild their lives from what is left behind.

The book centres on a small family who survived the fires, with the text jumping between the present and the past, weaving the story of the fire throughout the day to day lives they lead now. The family have been left with both physical and emotional scars from the fire and all have been deeply affected.

We get to see different ways in which the human brain processes trauma, from shutting down completely to just functioning to the innocence and hopefulness of children. Given that the story is such a sad one, it is beautifully written and the imagery of the forest before and after the fire is so detailed that I felt as if I was immersed in it myself. The forest almost seemed like a character in itself, being grieved as a person would be.

The book takes place over probably just a few weeks and stays within the small town and yet I was completely gripped the entire time. There’s also a strong message in here about what human’s have done to the earth, and the dangers that we need to prepare for as a result.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone, though I would check the trigger warnings before hand as this deals with: grief, trauma, suicide, mental health.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to review this advance copy. A review will be posted on my Instagram page (@_thats_what_she_read) in the week preceding the release.

The narrator of 'The Book of Fire' is Irini, a mother and music teacher whose life is upended when a horrific wildfire destroys her home and entire community, and leaves her husband and daughter with serious injuries. She begins writing about the fire and its aftermath as a coping mechanism, and the story alternates between Irini and her family gradually forging a new life six months after the fire, and the story of the fire and the days following it.

The story starts with Irini discovering a badly injured man in the remains of the forest - the man is a property developer who started the devastating fire when trying to illegally clear some land for a new building. Initially Irini leaves him, feeling that perhaps he deserves to die, but soon guilt overcomes her. Meanwhile she is also trying to rehabilitate her husband - an artist whose hands are severely burned, but whose mental injuries are perhaps even greater - and her ten year old daughter who also suffered serious burns and unimaginable trauma during the escape.

Lefteri is a very evocative writer. I can visualise the village and its surroundings as clearly as if I had been there. She brings vividly to life the beauty and peace of the forest, the barren wasteland after its destruction, and the sheer horror of the fire itself. The characters are interesting and sympathetic, and she writes without melodrama despite the underlying drama of the situation. It's a very believable story.

Every reader will have climate change in their minds as they read this - wildfires like the one in the book are becoming more common and more dangerous and are frequently on the news. The story acknowledges that the drier climate and lack of stewardship of the forest were factors in the fire, without ever labouring the point. There is no lecturing, but it still brings home a chilling reality of the damage already being done by climate change. This is not an apocalyptic story set in the future. This is a reflection of the reality of communities all over the world that are being impacted by this sort of catastrophic fire.

Although the subject matter is serious and there are plenty of upsetting things in the story, it is not a grim or pessimistic tale. Rather it shows the resilience and determination of human beings, and the importance of family and community in overcoming disaster. It is nice to read a book that doesn't shy away from the nastiness of life but still leaves you feeling like all is not lost.

If you enjoy well written literary fiction, and particularly if you have an interest in Greece or in natural (or partly natural) disasters, you will likely enjoy this book.

Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

I have read and reviewed the previous books from Christy Lefteri so I was happy when I received an email to say I had been pre-approved for her latest one.

As with the previous books, this is a beautifully written story with lots of atmosphere and tension. Some parts were quite difficult to read at times but a very powerful & emotional story.

I always enjoy a story that flicks backwards and forwards. A well-deserved 5 star read. Looking forward to more in the near future.

This begins as a story of a family living an idyllic life in Greece. They are Irini, her husband Tasso, their daughter Chara, and Tasso’s father who lives nearby. Their life is idyllic because they live in a beautiful place in Greece, surrounded by forest, but near to the sea. Their village life is full of love and laughter until an incomer, a greedy rich man lights a fire to try to clear land so that he can become even more rich. Because the earth is so parched (yes, this is a climate change novel, and all the richer for it) the fire quickly burns out of control, with tragic consequences. The story tells of how good people deal with bad things - it is beautifully written, atmospheric, moving and entrancing, all at once. This is a very fine book indeed.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful village, which held a million stories of love and loss and peace and war, and it was swallowed by a fire that blazed up to the sky. The fire ran all the way down to the sea, where it met with its reflection."

The Book of Fire was a poignant read, all the more so in light of the recent wildfires in Rhodes. Christy Lefteri has such a beautiful way of writing, even when describing the desolation of the forest after the fire.

Irini lives in a bungalow in an idyllic village in Greece. A beautiful home near an ancient forest. She lives with her artist husband and her beloved daughter Chara. Irini sees herself as a good person until a fire destroys her home and the surrounding forest.

After the fire Irini's home is destroyed and her husband and daughter are left with both physical and emotional scars from the fire. Her much loved father-in-law has been lost without a trace since the day of the fire. As well as all these losses Irini is grieving the secondary losses of parts of her family heritage, the changed personalities of her loved ones and not least the loss of the creatures who lived within the forest. Irini is angry and it is that anger that surfaces when she sees Mr Monk in the forest in need of help.

"This morning, I met the man who started the fire. He did something terrible, but then, so did I. I left him.

I left him, and now he may be dead."

The book is told both in the present and in flashbacks, a device some readers have expressed displeasure at, but I felt it worked really well. It made the whole thing seem more real, as if Irini could only stand to relive the trauma of the fire if she relayed it in third person.

"Maybe I can write it down. Maybe, that way, I can allow myself to remember without burning. Remember it as if it is a story from long, long ago. A fairy tale with a happy ending, like one of those in the beautifully illustrated books on the shelf in Maria's kafenion. I will call it The Book of Fire."

I read The Book of Fire in just a few hours and it has cemented Christy Lefteri's place among my favourite authors. I loved the way I began by questioning Christy's moral fibre, but then before long I was questioning whether I would have done the same if I was looking into his eyes in the heat of the moment.

"Within them, I saw Lazaros. I saw Lazaros standing in the old forest. I saw the pine trees and fir trees and poplars and plane trees and oaks. I saw the weasels, and minks, the wildcats and the badgers. I saw the beautiful red deer that roamed the lowlands. I saw the birds and the rabbits and the hedgehogs and moles and rats, the lizards and the beetles, the tiny insects, the ladybirdsand butterflies. I saw the wildflowers. I saw the colours of the forest as it was...I saw then the fifteen people huddled together, the ones we had seen as we ran down to the sea from our home - they had died holding onto each other.

I saw my husband's face and my daughter's."

The Book of Fire is a piece of fiction but it is also a dire warning about the consequences of the damage we are inflicting on our planet.

"The forest fires have always been worse during a drought, and as the years pass, the droughts have become longer and more frequent, the land drying out most summers, and the winds becoming stronger, too, the humidity lower. The conditions have progressively worsened."

This book will haunt me for some time to come.

"While you live, shine. Have no grief at all.

Life exists only for a short while.

And time demands its toll."

A lovely thought provoking and hopeful read.
Set in a peaceful freak village, Irini, her husband Tasso and their daughter Chara live a happy and simple life.
Until one day their peaceful lives are turned upside down when a fire rips through the land, destroying lives and homes. The senseless act of greed and selfishness caused by one individual.
Chara and Tasso are left with physical scars to go with the mental ones they all suffer.
Irini finds herself with a decision of conscience when she discovers the man who started the fire dying under a tree?
What should she do? Will her cations even make and difference?
The narrative is split between the present day and the vents leading up to and after the fire.
Despite the story being about fire abs destruction it is a peaceful and soothing read leading the reader to examine whether or not it is really worth blaming someone - the outcome is still the same.
The families struggle to come to terms with their loss is evident throughout, but raises the question can we always find the Menai g behind tragedy?
Would definitely recommended, especially if you loved the beekeeper of alleppo.

A stunning book that sucks you right in. I read it after the fires in Greece, so I found it made me very emotional having so recently seen the devastation a wildfire causes. A beautiful, thought provoking and at times very sad read about a family trying to rebuild their lives following the tragedy that’s taken so much from them.

The easiest of 5⭐️ recommendations.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK, Manilla Press for the advanced copy of this emotional read.

A fire that swallows all in its path and leaves behind a trail of destruction and misery. Set in modern times near the coast of Greece the story wavers between the aftermath of the fire, the time of the fire and then many years before. One of the things I took away from this book is that climate change is here now and we have to react better to the consequences, but also humans are resourceful and we will adapt, i hope.

It is one of those books that transports you making you forget about real life and full of fantastic characters that spring to life. I actually felt like I was there in the story with them ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is beautifully written and very evocative. What the whole family has gone through is horrific and feels all the more prescient with the situation in Rhodes this summer. I thought the characters were well written and felt authentic. If I’m honest, I didn’t love the diversionary story about the Turks and the musical instruments- I just couldn’t get absorbed by that part of the story when there was already so much going on so I did skip those bits. But really enjoyed the rest.

This is a story within a story, about a woman and her daughter, about her husband and his loss, about a fire that devastated their forest, their town, their lives. It is about family and love, greed for money, regret, loss, and death. And always about the fire. And the man who started it.

It is also about kindness. The faithful dog that stays by their side, the old women they accompany, the family who takes them in, the baby jackal they rescue, the lies adults tell each other so the children do not learn of terrible truths too young.

And numbness. The kind that leaves you unable to do anything until it's too late. Leaving you wondering again, what if? What if I had acted? Is this then my fault?

The Book of Fire is a quiet book with a fiery soul. Irini tells it in the aftermath of the fire, in the midst of rebuilding their lives, as her husband, Tasso, struggles with depression and the damage to his hands and her daughter, Chara, deals with an injury and tries to make sense of it all. She copes with the difficult bits by telling us the past in a fairy tale, in that once upon a Harry Lime, interweaving stories of her father and her great-grandfather, of their movements to and from this little forest in Greece that she now calls home.

Lefteri does very well in writing about loss and love, and also interweaving in the histories of the people and the places in the novel. This feels a little lighter than The Beekeeper of Aleppo, maybe because the scope feels a little smaller, the stakes a little lower. It's a beautiful read, all the same.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Bonnier Books UK via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Book of Fire is a strong and emotional book that focuses on a family that have to go through loss because of fire and how the members of the family deal with the pain that follows the tragedy that hit the island they were living in. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, the writing style, the story all make it a must read.

I loved this book. It is a terribly sad story but told with an uplifting sense of family.

This novel tells the story of Irini, Tasso and their daughter Chana. It is set in Greece, where their small village, set in an ancient forest, is engulfed by fire. They run for their lives, down to the sea, where they float and desperately try to keep their heads above water until they can be rescued.

This book would be an emotional read at any time. But to read it whilst the news is reporting wildfires raging through Rhodes and Corfu added stark images to what is written on the page. It made me consider the losses experienced by the families on these islands. This is purely coincidental of course, but I think it made the book more real.

I loved the way Irini recounts her family story to Chana. I liked the repetition, because this is what we do with children, it is partly how they learn. And I loved the smattering of cockney rhyming slang and the reason for this - 'once upon a harry lime'. Lovely. It gave the book such personality.
I also loved the sense of place - meze, halloumi, olives, Maria's kafenon, the pine trees all add to the picture of Greece in your mind. But the thing I liked the most about the forest was the old chestnut tree. Coming back to this one tree again and again reminded me of The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, which had a similar theme of a storyline built around a tree.

I could go on and on, there is so much that is good about this book. Don't be put of by the sad story, there are happy, uplifting moments throughout which balance the sadness somehow.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

This was an absolutely fantastic book which could, at times, be harrowing. You could feel the pain of all the people involved. There were parts filled with happiness that lifted the spirits.
With what is currently happening in Rhodes and Corfu this story hit very close to home and was very relavent. Watching the news about wildfires then reading a work of fiction felt strange but made the book even more enjoyable.

It’s beautifully written and relevant as we see heatwaves and wildfire happening around the world. This book is a love letter to the nature and call to protect. It also sensitively suggests that most people who are capitalistic and causing damage to the earth probably don’t mean to cause a natural catastrophe that leads to burning down the entire forest killing wildlife and people. Still, there is no change to the fact that they do. The story looks at how one fire, a simple mistake by a man, affected the eco system of the nature but also families, and one family in particular. The author’s beautiful prose adds to the grief and desperation. It was poignant and heartbreaking. The story develops very slowly, could have been a just little bit faster, but all in all, it is a very good book. Definitely recommend if you liked her books.

A beautifully written story about a family whose lives are affected by a devastating wild fire in Greece. We follow the story of Irini, her husband, Tasso, and her daughter, Chara, as they try to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the fire. The story is interspersed with Irini’s memoir which beautifully, and painfully, describes her emotions throughout this life changing tragedy. The author’s vivid descriptions of the forest, both before and after the fire, help the reader to get a real sense of the loss which these devastating fires bring about. A passionate and emotive story which drew me in from the very first page. Stunning!

This is a story within a story.
We follow a strong female character as she tackles grief, helplessness and guilt. The guilt she feels about the man who started the fire, helplessness regarding her husband and grief over the forest they've lost.
This story also tells an important story of how greed mixed with global warming can lead to devastating events. Especially the more people refuse to listen and change before it too late.
This was beautifully written. Perfectly paced. Hard to read at times.

Synopsis————————————This morning, I met the man who started the fire. He did something terrible, but then, so have I. I left him. I left him and now he may be dead.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful village that held a million stories of love and loss and peace and war, and it was swallowed up by a fire that blazed up to the sky. The fire ran all the way down to the sea where it met with its reflection.

A family from two nations, England and Greece, live a simple life in a tiny Greek village: Irini, Tasso and their daughter, lovely, sweet Chara, whose name means joy. Their life goes up in flames in a single day when one man starts a fire out of greed and indifference. Many are killed, homes are destroyed, and the region's natural beauty wiped out.

My thoughts
This story is told in two narratives that of Irini,Tasso and Chara in the current time and also Irini writing a memoir about the past (but not so past ).
The fire had raged through the beautiful village / forest and destroyed all plant and life including sadly human life too leaving its charred remains.
Tasso was badly damaged from the fire he
was emotionally troubled .
Chara and her mother suffered during the fire , the escape, Chara was subsequently hurt they survived but others did not.
Mr Monk the one who started the fire was found dead by Irini.
An investigation is also part of the narrative.
There were warm moments throughout not only with human interaction but that of a dog and a jackal.
This is a wonderful story about human spirit , the perseverance to survive such devastating circumstances and that of redemption and acceptance.

The story is intensely emotional and left me feeling sad till the end. Through the vivid descriptions I could picture the devastation of the wild fire, the fight to escape and survive, the search for their loved ones. Through the authors writing i could envisage the aftermath and the consequences for all those who experienced the fire, those who survived, who caused it and those who are lost. As the story progresses you feel the fight for the survivors and the person to caused it to deal with it in their own way.

This was a heart wrenching and poignant read. This is my second Christy Lefteri read, it was very moving and heartbreaking but unlike the beekeeper of Aleppo which I read through my tears.

A heartbreaking story of the devastation caused by a wildfire in Greece. Christy Lefteri is wonderful at emotive writing and she does it again with The Book of Fire.

A duel timeline tells Irini's tale of how she and her family survive the fire, the destruction caused both to the land and to the people.

It explores climate change, mental health, love and loss. Definitely not a light read but with Southern Europe currently experiencing an extreme heatwave, it feels like a very topical read.

I was pleased to receive this ARC via NetGalley in lieu of my honest review.

Christy lefteri never fails to hit the emotions.
I found this book thought provoking and emotional.
A man burns some land but the fire gets out of control due to a drought, the aftermath is devastating and this book follows a family who lost a lot but survived.
I loved the story and I honestly look forward to the next Christy Lefteri book, she's one heck of a writer.
Thank you netgalley.

I really loved Christy's last book and was looking forward to reading this one and it was beautifully told.

The book of fire is told is about a family living in the forest on a Greek island. When a wildfire rages out of control and destroys their home Irini the mother - must try to keep her family safe whilst dealing with her own haunting secret.

I loved the descriptions of the forest and wildlife. The pictures painted by words of the animals, trees and flowers were amazing. The contrast from before and after the fire was massively different and written about really well Reading this while wildfires rage through Greece and Europe even now made it all the more real.

This book is about strength, courage, family and love and I really love Irini and Chara as characters.

I will be recommending this book to others and looking for new reads from Christy. 4.5 round up :)

A stunning book about what makes home, family and identity.

Irini, Tasso and their daughter, Chara live in an ancient forest in Greece - Irini is a musician and Tasso a painter of the forest in all its moods. One day a wildfire consumes their home, village and destroys the forest.

Irini finds the man who started the fire while exploring the devastation and makes a decision which will haunt her. Tasso sinks into depression following the death of his father and the fire damage to his own hands. Irini has to nurse her daughter who suffered life changing burns in the fire.

The story alternates between Irini’s memories of the fire and its immediate aftermath and their recovery and the hope they eventually find.

A hard read but ultimately very rewarding.

Just like 'The Beekeeper of Aleppo' this book is beautifully written and intensely emotional. It is a slow read, which returns to themes and locations and re-examines them.

This book tells Irini's story, but follows two timelines which are very different in tone. Irini finds herself trying to come to terms with the changed landscape, both literally and metaphorically, following an out of control fire started deliberately in the forest near her home on a Greek island. The story particularly resonated following the extreme wildfires which have been reported on the Greek island of Rhodes (and others) this summer.

The version of Irini's 'current' story is told in the present tense and first person. This juxtaposes with the past story which is told in the third person and explains the events of the fire and also how Irini fell in love with Tasso.

The fire destroys so much more than landscape and property. It is clear that so many lives are decimated in the fire's wake, and I am sure that, following this summer's events, there will be so many more similar tales to be told.

Like the 'Beekeeper,' Lefteri is writing a tale of hope and redemption - so many characters have to learn to forgive themselves and others because of the consquences of their actions: Mr Monk; Irini, Tasso, Mrs Gatika - all have to assess their actions in the cold light of day.

I was so excited to pick this up after receiving a NetGalley widget from the publisher, especially since I have loved all the previous books by this author, and I'm glad to say this one didn't disappoint either.

The Book of Fire follows a family that has been pulled apart after a forest fire destroys a small Greek town. This is not a book about the devastation caused by the fire but a story about loss and survival.

As with all of Lefteri's books, I thought this one was beautifully written. It's full of fab descriptions of the Greek town and its surroundings both before and after the fire. The story does jump around quite a bit and do wish it was told in chronological order rather than jumping back and forwards. there were also some lines that felt a little repetitive, especially at the start, but the repetition all makes sense as the story progresses.

I thought the characters were well drawn, and they felt realistic, and although they had their flaws, I couldn't help but feel for them all.

This is another great read, and if you've enjoyed Lefteri's previous books, then I highly recommend this one too!! Be prepared for your emotions to be taken on a wild ride!!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publishers Bonnier Books UK for my digital review copy (eARC).

These are my honest and unbiased thoughts that I am sharing voluntarily.

After a devastating fire ravages a Greek village, lives are changed forever. Encountering the man who set the fire, Irini makes a decision that she struggles to come to terms with. Hauntingly beautiful, The Book of Fire is a story of destruction, redemption and learning to live life again.

I love the authenticity in Christy Lefteri’s writing, which is visible in all her novels. The imagery to describe the forest is particularly beautiful and I love the use of Greek language. The sense of loss and the characters’ pain is palpable. At first I struggled with the ‘Book of Fire’ sections, finding them ethereal and somewhat hard to follow. However, once I got to grips with it, I found it an effective way to contextualise and deepen the meaning of the story. Definitely recommended for fans of Lefteri’s previous work.

This is a beautiful story about a wildfire which is started by a man who wants to start a hotel business in a small town in Greece. We follow the life of Irini, Tasso and Chara on the day of the wildfire, what damage it caused, and their lives after. Christy has done a fantastic job of blending the two timelines together. Before the fire the forest was vibrant, with so much life in it. Whereas afterwards, the forest is a charred mess. This is a story about nature, loss, love and what home really means.

Wow, what an amazing story that really touched me. The pain and suffering you feel for Irini, Tasso and Chara is so real and it makes you realise how lucky you really are in this world, knowing that this really happens to families. I am in awe of Christy Leftri and her poetic writing, she writes with such emotion and love where she deeply describes the family relationships. Their relationships are deep and full of flaws but this makes you realise they are real. An emotional story that will stay with me. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone I can!

Where do I even start. This book captivated me from page 1. I really struggled to put it down and it was so beautifully written that I could visualise the setting as I was reading. It was heartbreaking at times but it was also filled with hope. How do you start again when everything around you is lost? I loved Irina's own story withing the story. How she fought to keep her family alive, how she never gave up when all around her had burnt to the ground. A very special book indeed

Irini Diamandis lives with her husband Tasso and their ten year old daughter Chara, alongside Rosalie the dog.
Irini is a musician, who teaches various instruments. Tasso is an Artist.
The day starts normally, until they see and hear the sounds of fire in the Forest.

The book covers some extremely sensitive issues.

Deep and meaningful words, words that at times left me feeling as if I could see into Irini’s soul.
Hauntingly sad - Alive with descriptive words. A questioning of morals, our planet.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

With wonderfully emotive writing, this story is both heartbreaking and uplifting. One man’s greed causes massive devastation with terrifying consequences and I felt like there was an undercurrent of warning to us all, about the damage we are causing to our beautiful planet.

Told from the POV of a nameless mother with her child, separated from her husband in the chaos, as they escape the devastating fires that ravage their home and the surrounding forest, and run to the relative safety of the sea.

And then in the present, after the fire has ceased, by Irini, with her daughter, Chara, in the aftermath of the fire as, along with other families, they mourn their dead, support their community and try to rebuild their homes and their lives.

Everyone has lost something or someone and over time, love, hope and resilience allows them to gradually rebuild their lives together.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Christy Lefteri and Bonnier for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I am in love with this book. It is beautifully written and emotionally charged.

We follow Irini and her family cope with the effects of a wildfire that desimates their home and town in Greece. We hear the story of the fire through Irini's journal, that is written from a distance about a woman, her daughter and her missing husband. We also follow her experiences through the first person narrative of Irini, where we get a much more emotionally charged depiction of events.

However the emotional punch comes from the contrast of these two narratives as we find out more about this family and the fire that stole their home, the life they knew. The setting is alive and felt completely transported to Greece and some of the historical influences on the lives of those in the book.

I could not have been more engaged in this beautiful story of love, of grief, of trauma, the climate crisis, the responsibility we have to others, to ourselves.

A captivating powerful read.
You can feel the heat and smell the smoke as the fire rages and you can acutely feel the desperations of the survivors and their loss.
A brilliantly written book, dealing with the topical subject of wild fires.
As the survivors come to terms with their life-changing situations and losses the story alternates between two other timezones, how the main characters came to meet and the historical facts of how their forefather's lives were changed and shaped by another tragedy on the same lands decades before.