I got to 50% of this book and then finally realised I don't connect well with Christy Lefteri's books and gave up. I managed to push through her previous ones because I can see she's a great writer, but at the same time she's not a writer I can connect with.
It's not the pacing (I've enjoyed similarly-paced books) or that I don't connect with her characters (I've enjoyed other books in which I didn't). I just can't feel what everyone else seems to feel when they read her. The heartbreak and sadness described by every other reader don't come to me when reading her books.

I really enjoy her talking, though, and I have listened to many interviews trying to finally connect with her writing, but still no luck.

So I think if you generally like Lefteri's novels, you'll also enjoy this one. But I don't, and I had to eventually stop reading and realise that she's not for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

A serious warning for the bleak future.

Thanks NetGalley and Bonnier Books, UK for the ARC.

Synopsis -

Irini and her family have lost everything to the fire. Their quaint little Greek village at the foothills of the mountains, near the sea went up in flames. The blazing fire not only burnt their home, their village and the forest, but it also burnt their hope, their faith, memories and stories, uprooting their entire world - leaving behind everlasting scars that are physical and psychological.

Review -

While I am completely convinced with the story, the subject matter, the thought process behind it and the magnitude of destruction, despair and desolation that Lefteri portrays here, I unfortunately didn’t ‘feel’ the sadness, the grief and loss in my heart, neither did I connect with Irini’s character as much as I wanted to.

The wildfire that consumes this village is one that's started intentionally. It is quite literally a reflection what is happening in the world right now. Be it the island of Maui, in Hawaii or even Greece as we speak.

Lefteri truly has taken a bold step in taking up this timely relevant topic, as the world stands on the cusp of climate change, and global warming, as we inch close to the point of no return and the catastrophe that a 1.5 degree global temperature increase might unleash.

That said, I only wished I took a liking to Lefteri’s writing style. This is my second book of hers after The Beekeeper of Aleppo and unfortunately, I find it hard to care about her characters. There is a certain emotional distance I felt and I found some of the threads here were so repetititive, the narrative too dark, tedious and monotonous even, with no silver lining, or a ray of hope whatsoever.

However, I did love the idyllic Greek village setting - the vivid, detailed descriptions of its bounties of nature, were richly tender and beautifully captured.

The mystery element keeps the pages turning and the ending did hint at the faintest light at the end of the dark tunnel, but not as much as I would have loved.

But still, I'd say give it a go if you have loved the author's works previously.

The timing of this book is quite something.

Irini and her family live on a seemingly idyllic small Greek island. A forest fire, deliberately started, changes their lives and the book deals with how they cope.

This time Lefteri takes on climate change and corporate greed. The book jumps between the past and the present and is interspersed with section from a book Irini is writing. This type of structure results in a fair amount of repetition, which would usually drive me made but Lefteri pulls this off.

The book is not an easy read but a very good read:

“Things are never as simple as they seem, always remember that in life. It is dangerous to see things in black-and-white even -and maybe especially- during trouble times. Each side hates each other because of memories and traumas on both sides, some are real some imagined and these become national narratives. They demonise each other. The “other” is always to blame, and it fuels people and groups and governments with fire. This never leads to any good on this earth. “


Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This book deserves to do well.

Irini, Tasso and their daughter’s lives go up in flames in a single day when a wildfire rips through their Greek village. The family survive but they are struggling to piece their lives back together.

Obviously this was an extreme timely read, and the experiences of the family were scarily similar to those the poor people in Greece and Hawaii in recent weeks.

While I totally respect what the author has done with this book in bringing attention to such a serious topic, for me the lack of any hope made it a bit of a struggle

Extremely moving and poignant story that will stay with you long after you've read it. A beautiful Greek village and all the surrounding forestlands are decimated by wildfires. Irini flees with her daughter, while her husband Tasso tries to find his elderly father. The account of Irini and Chara running to the sea, along with many other villagers (againsts the instructions of the local police) is harrowing and graphic; their time in the water, horrific. Their ignorance of where Tasso is, heartbreaking. When wildfires are reported on the news, this is a part of the story one can't even imagine, especially the timescales involved.
Tasso who had documented the forest and its life in vivid paintings is left physically injured, traumatised and unable to paint. Some of his paintings hanging in his father's house remain untouched by the fire. These contrast hugely with the new view outside. Those who enter the house later, almost enter into a trance when gazing at them, so much do they want to return to that world.
Themes of human greed, effects of climate change, guilt, trauma, regret, desolation could have led to too disturbing and bleak a book, but there's hope, beauty and love here. The descriptions of the forest and wildlife are breathtaking. Beautiful prose, lovely to read, gripping and highly recommended.

Once upon a Harry Lime… Beautifully written story of love and grief set amongst the Greek wildfires.

A throughly beautiful book of loss and hope that feels so timely at the current times with wildfires raging around the world. The devastation is offset by strong family bonds and the rebirth of nature at the end just provided the perfect T ending. You must read this book!

Beautifully written a story of hope but also sadness this is the best book I've read by this author and would definitely recommend and I'm looking forward to what she comes up with next 5 stars

The Book of Fire is another stunningly beautiful yet devastating story from Christy Lefteri. The before and after timelines merge together perfectly, this book is a must read particularly if you’ve enjoyed her other books. I will be thinking about this one for a long time.
Many thanks for the ARC.

“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.”
Irini, Tasso and their daughter Character live a simple life in a small Greek village.
Their life goes up in flames in a single day when one man starts a fire out of greed.
Many are killed, homes are destroyed and the region’s natural beauty wiped out.
It changes the family both physically and mentally.
A timely and harrowing novel about wildfires and their devastating consequences on a community, captures perfectly the essence of humanity.
Hope is a central theme throughout the book - something that all the characters desperately cling to and their are signs of hope towards the end of the book when new flowers and trees start blooming.
A beautifully written and very emotional book.
Thanks @christy_lefteri, @zaffrebooks & @netgalley for the eARC

This book is so topical with the dreadful wildfires sweeping Canada, Hawaii and Europe this summer. It tells of a terrible wildfire on Cyprus and the aftermath for those who have lost their homes, livelihoods, relatives and are coming to terms with devastating injuries. I was so gripped by this story, the descriptions of the fire and the ensuing blame game. A must read.

Christy Lefteri has a gift like no other for being able to write such beautiful books about such heartbreaking topics.

Irini, Tasso, Chara and their whole community are trying to recover from the trauma of a forest fire that destroyed their homes in a day! Many lost their lives, others have horrific injuries, they all lost the forest. The story looks at how they start to recover.

It looks at who caused the fire…a greedy property developer? Global warming? A strong wind? How do we place blame for a catastrophic event?

After the tragedy, Irini fears she has lost her husband, she finds hope in the kindness of strangers.

There are not enough words to describe how this book is both heartbreaking and beautiful. It is full of tragedy but also hope. The community and family do start to rebuild their lives, even after they thought all was lost.

A story of resilience, tragedy, hope, love, family and responsibility.

The story of how the community of a small village in Greece has been affected by a wildfire, that caused devastation.
A fire started by a human, that spread faster because of the changes to the climate. Not the only fire to affect the region lately.
A mother and her daughter find safety at sea, there they wonder where papa is.
A story of starting over.

A compelling read, like all Christy's books. She writes so beautifully.

I've read and loved both of Christy Lefteri's previous books so I was really excited to have the opportunity to read The Book Of Fire and I think it is my favourite novel by the author so far. Her writing is absolutely beautiful: she describes the scenes (some of them quite harrowing) with an immaculate detail which creates a really strong emotional impact.

The Book Of Fire is written from two perspectives: firstly from the first person view of Irini and secondly from the third person viewpoint as she attempts to write her story. I felt this was a really inventive way of helping the reader to understand the mindset of the characters so we could try to understand the horror that Irini, her family and the community have been through. The sympathy I felt for them was really powerful and this made the novel quite difficult to read in places.

It is clear that Christy Lefteri has researched the themes in The Book Of Fire thoroughly and I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book which discussed this in more detail. The novel felt incredibly relevant to current events around the world and this made it even more poignant.

The novel is something of a slow burn and although there are no particularly explosive moments, I found the story of Mr Monk intriguing and I was interested by the questions his story asked of us. The Book Of Fire has had a profound effect on me and I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

The Book of Fire starts as a tale of a fire we know has happened five months ago and a little family, amongst a bigger community, struggle with the aftermath. Irini starts to tell her story "once upon a time" of how her daughter Chara was badly burnt but they found survival by staying in the water, how her husband Tasso, a painter, lost his hands, how members of the community have lost loved ones, all because of one man's greed. He is known as Mr Monk but then something happens to him and Irini is involved. We flit between then and now, the action and the aftermath.

I have loved Lefteri's writing in all of her novels now and this is no different. She continually writes so beautifully about the most traumatic of events and this is a sad novel, writing about all kinds of losses. There are sweet moments with a lost baby jackal, but on occasion it is overwhelmingly sad and we are aware constantly of all that has been lost. Beautifully done though, and I salute Lefteri for the thoughtful prose.

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely loved The Beekeeper of Aleppo and Songbirds by Lefteri, so I was really really excited to read The Book of Fire! Ultimately, I did enjoy this book and found that it had a lot of the elements that the other books have, such as beautiful writing and a heartbreaking tale, but there was something slightly lacking in this book and I can't place my finger on it. I did enjoy it, and would still recommend it but it was not as good as her previous books in my opinion.

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.