Christy Lefteri
The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri is about a massive fire that burns thousands of acres of a forest and the surrounding homes in a village in rural Greece. The fire was started by a developer wanting to clear a portion of the forest for construction. Because of the drought brought on by climate change, the fire quickly burned out of control, killing some of the villagers and forcing the survivors to spend desperate hours in the ocean waiting for rescue.
The fire and its aftermath is described through the lens of Irini, a music teacher who lives in the village with her husband, Tasso; and their daughter, Chara. The story unfolds in intertwining threads consisting of the day of the fire; Irini’s written account of the disaster in her journal; and her desperate attempts to help her husband and daughter heal from their physical burns and from the psychological trauma they all experienced. To add to her anxiety, Irini encounters the developer responsible for setting her world ablaze. She finds him in the burned-out forest, barely conscious and with a rope around his neck either because of a botched attempt at suicide or due to foul play. Holding him responsible for all her losses, Irini abandons him only to return later to find he has died. Questions linger about his death, which is later deemed a suicide.
Threaded throughout are Irini’s flashbacks of her childhood in London with her parents, her meeting with Tasso and his parents, her marriage and relocation to Greece, and her idyllic life with Tasso and Chara before the fire. Irini includes loving recollections of her father-in-law who doesn’t survive the fire. He had warned that climate change and the ensuing drought would accelerate the speed and scope of forest fires. But his warnings went unheeded. As she desperately tries to hold her traumatized family together, Irini battles feelings of guilt, sadness, and concern over her family.
The novel’s strength lies in the immersive description of the fast-moving fire and the devastation it caused. The novel’s weakness lies in flat characters; stiff dialogue; long, drawn out passages; excessive repetition; and chunks of expository writing that dulled the narrative. At times it seemed as if the novel didn’t move forward but was stuck in a never-ending, repetitive loop.
Lefteri’s attempt to highlight the impact of climate change on the environment and on people’s lives and livelihood is to be commended. Unfortunately, the execution of this important theme is not entirely successful.