The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri

Condition: excellent 

A family from two nations, England and Greece, live a simple life in a tiny Greek village: Irini, Tasso and their daughter, sweet Chara, whose name means joy. Their life goes up in flames when one man starts a fire out of greed and indifference. Many are killed, homes are destroyed, and the region's natural beauty wiped out.

In the wake of the fire, Chara bears deep scars across her back and arms. Tasso is frozen in trauma, devastated that he wasn't there when his family most needed him. And Irini is crippled by guilt at her part in the fate of the man who started the fire.

But this family has survived, and slowly green shoots of hope and renewal will grow from the smouldering ruins of devastation.

Once again, Christy Lefteri has crafted a novel which is intimate and epic, sweeping and delicate. The Book of Fire explores not only the damage wrought by human folly, and the cost of survival in our changing world, but also - and ultimately - our powers of redemption and renewal.

An astonishing weaver of stories that speak to the world with compassion'

Daljit Nagra