Book Review: Children of the Volcano by Ros Belford*

[Ad-gifted] Children of the Volcano, an autobiographical story described on the back cover as ‘An uplifting, humorous memoir of a single mother building a new life on a beautiful Sicilian island’. Published by September Publishing, the book is penned by travel writer Ros Belford, and subtitled ‘Creating a new life with two small girls in Sicily’.

I have a book on my bookshelf called Seaside Interiors – one of those big, hardback volumes full of photographs of people’s beautiful seaside homes. Flicking through this one day, I landed on Franco Menna’s house in Filicudi (yes, it is a Sicilian island!) and I was enchanted by the breathtaking beauty of the Aeolian seas, the steep, sun-bleached hillsides and woven rush canopies over open balconies. I dreamt of living a simpler life there… it even prompted me to start learning Italian. So I jumped at the chance to review Ros Belford’s memoirs, and they do not disappoint.

Life on a Sicilian island

Ros leaves the home she shared with her partner and their two young children after realising that she cannot continue quietly taking the snide comments and indifference that she is served up. As a bilingual travel writer with a love of Italy, she uses her contacts to find a work opportunity that takes them to the Sicilian island of Favignana. While this turns out to not quite be the life they were seeking, the family soon head for the beautiful Aeolian island of Salina where they rent a house, make new friends and settle into the unique way of life that Salina offers.

Salina is incredibly beautiful, with abundant and wonderful seasonal food, clear seas to bathe in and a slower pace of life. There is also the ever-present excitement (and sometimes fear) of seismic and volcanic activity – it can be detected sporadically in the rumbling earth, and underwater in the bay as they swim amongst the bubbles that rise from the seabed.

While Ros is engaged in revising travel guides, she is also concerned about her children’s education. The local school is amusingly mundane in its offering; the teachers, supplied from the mainland, get the kids to fill in colouring books and stick bits of rolled-up paper together… and books are pretty much banned. This little cameo of island education is hilarious, yet it is obvious that the real learning takes place outside the school in the community as the children build friendships, discover new foods, talk in Italian and find out about the geography around them. Their lives are filled with exciting new things, from watching how ricotta is made and learning about the majare (magic ladies of the island) to studying bathymetric maps and snorkelling amongst bubbles of volcanic gas.

It is a great life that they lead for a good seven years. And in the end, we don’t get the final chapter of this island adventure: we are not allowed to watch on as the family finally make their plans to leave, first to Siracusa and then to England – and the magical bonds of Salina are broken. But years later and now grown up, the two girls each add their own touch to their mother’s story in a footnote, which show the different perspectives they had on their time away.

What I thought of Children of the Volcano

This book is an absolute delight. Ros writes as though she is painting a picture – the images and colours of her journey are vivid and immediately present – you can almost smell the nighttime air and the fragrance of food, and feel the wind in your face. The characters you meet in the book are described in a way that you get the sensation of having met them yourself. These are ordinary people living their everyday lives, yet these lives are meaningful and special – and Ros captures this with her eye for every exquisite detail. The story also brings home the fragility of the island culture, including its customs and history, and highlights how little this means to those who seek to make a buck from someone else’s paradise (no spoilers, just hints).

I was struck by the bravery of the author in what she did: many a woman would accept her lot, raise the children in the family home and hope for better days ahead while facing years of stagnation. Ros made bold decisions, at the same time acknowledging her own fears and doubts about her plans. I think she gave her children the most wonderful gifts: not only the experiences they had on the island of swimming in clear seas and learning a second language but also their freedom and the security that comes with living in a small community.

At the end of the book there is a footnote from each of the two girls, now grown up, telling their own story about life on Salina. This is a nice touch to finishing Ros’s story, adding an interesting and fresh perspective.

So much of this book resonated with me, and I wholeheartedly recommend reading it – if you have an affinity with Italy, it will nourish your soul and give you plenty to reflect on.

Where you can get your copy of Children of the Volcano and how much it costs?

The hardcover copy of Children of the Volcano costs £18.39 while the Kindle download retails at £11.99.  You can order your copy from Amazon here.  Do check the website for the latest price, as this might change.

About the Book

Publisher ‏ : ‎ September Publishing 
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1914613661

About the Author

Determined that single parenthood would not stand in the way of adventure, Ros Belford left London to live in Sicily with her two tiny daughters. After a false start on an island of machismo and intimidation, she found Salina, a remote volcanic island where Izzy and Juno spent their childhood playing on the beach, learning to swim over volcanic bubbles and watching Stromboli erupt. But nowhere is paradise. The school was atrocious, the teachers terrifying, and there were power cuts, storms and an earthquake. But an eclectic community of islanders took them to their hearts and Salina became home. Full of humanity, vitality, honesty and optimism, Children of the Volcano is for anyone unwilling to give up dreams of adventure and excitement simply because of parenthood, lack of money, and not getting things right the first time.

Review by: Metia Bethell Egan

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