Helena Attlee for The Fire in the Mountain

_"ATTLEE HAS THAT RARE GIFT OF BEING ABLE TO KNOW AN INORDINATE AMOUNT ABOUT A SUBJECT AND YET WEAR HER KNOWLEDGE SO LIGHTLY THAT THE TONE IS ANECDOTAL, NOT ACADEMIC.

IT'S A BIG THING, TO PULL OFF SUCH LIGHTNESS"__ -Yotam Ottolenghi_FOR CENTURIES, MOUNT ETNA HAS SENT LAVA TO ENGULF THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES, TERRACED FIELDS, ORCHARDS, VINEYARDS, AND CITRUS GROVES THAT NESTLE ACROSS ITS SLOPES.

BUT STILL IT REMAINS HOME TO A QUARTER OF SICILY'S POPULATION.

WHY? BECAUSE ETNA HAS ALWAYS REWARDED HER PEOPLE AFTER EVERY ERUPTION WITH A LANDSCAPE OF UNPARALLELED FERTILITY, RICHNESS AND DRAMA._In this extraordinary new book, Helena Attlee combines travel writing with history, mythology, geology, gastronomy and horticulture to tell a unique story of life in the shadow of Sicily’s most dangerous and alluring landmark.

Venturing through lava-strewn fields and pistachio groves patrolled by armed guards; past dusky, basalt-built farmyards, and caves once used to store snow, Attlee gathers tales of the artists, writers, farmers, and scientists who have for centuries been drawn to this unpredictable landscape: from the early Roman, Arabic and Norman settlers, Romantic poets and Victorian geologists, to the local families who live and work there today. __It is at once a compelling account of Sicily’s rich and varied past, and a powerful meditation on humanity’s ever-changing relationship with landscape. _HELENA ATTLEE is the author of the award-winning _Sunday Times_ bestseller _The Land Where Lemons Grow_.

She is a regular contributor to numerous magazines, including _Gardens Illustrated_, the _English Garden_, _Country Life_, _Hortus_ and _World of Interiors_.

She also writes for the bilingual website of an Italian landscape architect based in London.

She has worked in Italy for much of her life, and it has been the inspiration for many of her books.