The Fire in the Mountain: Sicily, Etna and Her People
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Fans of Helena Attlee's The Land Where Lemons Grow, which explored the arrival of citrus cultivation in Italy, will immediately recognize her ability to place her readers vividly in a place they may never have been.
In this case, the place is on the slopes of Europe's biggest and most active volcano, looming over Sicily's eastern coastline. More than a quarter of Sicily's population lives on Etna and Attlee wonders, "How did they accommodate such vast, uncontrollable forces in their everyday lives? And what did the volcano give them in return for committing to its uncertain ground?"
One part of the answer is pistachio orchards and vineyards, flocks of sheep which graze on the fertile mountainside, and hives of bees kept for their honey, all the result of the renewing fertility of Etna's soils. The Fire in the Mountain makes it clear that there are other allures, which have drawn people for centuries, some of them returning home with stories of monsters that lived with in the volcano and others settling there.
Lyrical and dangerous.
Hardcover.
Published on April 16, 2026
