Children of the Volcano

An uplifting, humorous memoir of a single mother building a new life on a beautiful Sicilian island. Reeling from a broken relationship, Ros Belford decides the best chance she has of healing and giving her daughters a childhood to remember is to move to Italy and live by the sea. After a false start on an island where machismo is ingrained they find Salina, a delightful small and lush volcanic island. Izzy and Juno grow up playing on the beach, learning to swim over volcanic bubbles, hearing tales of Aeolian witches and watching Stromboli erupt on the horizon. It is not entirely paradise, however. The school is atrocious, there are power cuts and an earthquake. But an eclectic community of islanders take them to their hearts, friendships are forged and Salina becomes 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.

Ros Belford spends her time between Selina, Siracusa and Cambridge and is the author of numerous guidebooks to Italy, Sicily and Mediterranean. She has written articles on travel and food for many magazines and newspapers and is the Telegraph's Sicilian travel expert. She has made radio programmes for the BBC. Recently, Ros climbed an active volcano on Lion TV's The Rough Guide to Mediterranean Islands.