The Book of Fire: human resilience and healing in the face of tragedy

The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri is a story of tragedy and the resilience of the human spirit. In present day Greece, deep in an ancient forest, Irini lives with her husband, Tasso and their daughter, Chara. One fateful day, a fire rages out of control, changing their lives forever. In the aftermath, as the village tries to rebuild and injuries begin to slowly heal, Irini stumbles across the man who started the fire. He is dying but whether it was by his own hand or someone else’s is unclear. In her anger, Irini makes a decision that will haunt her. As the local police investigate the man’s death, Tasso mourns for his father who has been missing since the fire and Irini struggles with her decision and the meaning for their future. Can they rebuild their lives? Can they find forgiveness within themselves to move forward? 

Ms. Lefteri’s books are always gorgeously written with haunting images and deeply intimate with emotions and struggles. After falling in love with her writing since The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019), I eagerly looked forward to The Book of Fire. Inspired by the fires that devastated Greece a few years ago, The Book of Fire is about the search for meaning in the wake of tragedy. It is a look at the human toll in all events, either natural or man made, people must learn to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Irini is deeply relatable as she makes a decision that most of us would probably have made in the heat of anger and the need for retribution and her coming to terms with her decision. Overall, I enjoyed The Book of Fire. If you enjoy deeply moving stories about the human spirit, I recommend The Book of Fire. 

The Book of Fire is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

The House by the River: a family saga set in the country of Greece

The House by the River by Lena Manta is a family saga story set in the beautiful country of Greece. Living in a small village by a river at the foot of Mount Olympus, Gerasimos and Theodora have five daughters: Melissanthi, Julia, Aspasia, Polyxeni, and Magdanlini. When tragedy strikes, Theodora is left to raise her daughters alone. As they grow into beautiful young women, Theodora knows she can’t keep her daughters at home forever. They are too curious, too free-spirited with too much wanderlust to stay in their tiny village. But before each girl leaves, she lets them know they are always welcomed to come home to the house by the river. Theodora must endure the twenty-year silence from her daughters as they live their lives. They marry, travel the world, courted various romances, fame and their own tragedy. Will their own tragedy bring them back together to the house by the river?

The House by the River is a long, in-depth family story. Separated into sections, detailing each daughters’ successes, failures, and tragedy. The stories started out strong. I enjoyed Theodora’s story as well as Melissanthi’s and Julia’s. Unfortunately, the other daughters’ stories were tedious and very unrealistic. However, the best part of the book is when the daughters, one by one, return to the house and in various ways find forgiveness and healing from their waywardness. Overall, I enjoyed the story. The imagery of the various towns and villages in Greece are stunning. However, it is hard to recommend because it is just so long and tedious to the point of repetitiveness

 

The House by the River is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

Miss Fortune: a memoir of one's journey to better her life

Miss Fortune by Albina Hume is a memoir of one woman’s journey from poverty in the Ukraine to animal activism in Africa. It is a life which many of us can hardly imagine but a classic story of picking yourself up from the dust and creating a great life in any way possible.

The story opens with a prologue, Albina is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her wedding invitations which features a butterfly as a representation of the beginning of new life. She lives on a ranch in Africa with her fiance, John, who works to save the white rhinos from extinction. The short, then, flashes back to childhood and life in the Ukraine. She struggled with the pronunciation of the letter “R” and was horribly teased because of it. She would spend her life trying to avoid all words with Rs, which would be proved hard in a language with strong R pronunciations like Russian. She would be educated in boarding schools and when she has her diploma in hand, she would try to find a job. Only the doors to steady work would be closed to her as employers discovered she was a villager. She soon gets into deep debt, trying to make a living and turns to exotic dancing in order to pay those off. She would soon find herself in Greece, where she would fall in and out of love as she is used and betrayed by men who lied. She would eventually turn to a marriage agency which leads her to John and his ranch in Africa.

I received a PDF copy of this book which was hard to read at first, mainly because I have never read a book in this format before. But once I figured it out, the book was a fast read because it kept me intrigued. Her story seems only like it was written for a movie. Her story was all the more heart wrenching because she lived it. As I read her descriptions of her journey, her disappointments, her struggles, I found myself horrified that this was her journey but I rejoiced with her as she found love and a new purpose in her life. I recommend Miss Fortune as a life story which will inspire and encourage other to take their life circumstances and change them for the better.  

Two new titles for the wonderful "If you were me and lived in..." series

Two more great books from the If you were me and lived in… series. First, we visit Peru where the readers learn about this South America country and its culture, weather, and topography. We learn that Peru has many different climates from dry plains to the wet Amazon Rain Forest. The Andes Mountains runs through Peru and is the home of the famous city of Machu Picchu. Ceviche, a popular Peruvian dish, is discussed as well as other not so famous dishes. 

Second, we visit Greece, the “crossroads of Europe, western Asia, and Africa.” The readers learn about Athens, the largest city in Greece and the “cradle of western civilization” and the birthplace of democracy. Greek food is mentioned giving few examples of delicious Greek food like the loukoumades, doughnuts with honey and cinnamon. Of course, you can’t read about Greece and not learn about the Olympic Games and its origins. As well as the Feast of St. Basil at the New Year where a coin is hidden inside a cake and whoever finds the coin is said to have good luck in the new year.

I highly recommend this books for any classroom or family library. All titles in this series are available in Amazon on the Kindle for $0.99 and in paperback for $8.68