Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark

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As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own.

Thank you #berkleypartner @berkleypub for the gifted finished copy, and @prhaudio for the gifted ALC. #BerkleyIG #penguinrandomhousepartner #prhapartnerLawson rushed to report the fires to John Roby, the collector of customs at the port, who had almost certainly already seen the flames. As the Caribbean night sky gradually turned the color of copper, Roby wrote an urgent message to the governor of Jamaica. He underlined two words, a gesture almost never seen in official correspondence. Sir, I consider it my duty to inform you that there is at this moment a serious fire raging in a southeasterly direction from this town, apparently 8 or 10 miles distant, and it is supposed at Hampton Estate but from the glare I fear it extends to other estates in its vicinity lying more to the southward. From the late insubordination of the negroes on many estates in the neighborhood, which has caused the militia to be under arms since Sunday last, it is feared that this fire is not from accidental causes and I beg the favor of your giving his Excellency the governor immediate information thereof.

I thought it was a unique take, using death as part of the story of love, friendship, and having one last Summer on Fire Island to be with her husband in spirit, try to move forward. They also touch on further interesting points such as: did J.W. Turner and Edward Munch paint red skylines because there was so much volcanic particulate in the air at those times? How do you divert a bajillion tons of angry lava away from your tiny Icelandic fishing village, both in the 18th century and in 1973? Ancient Danish/Icelandic warrior kings with weird bone structure--early victims of fluorine poisoning? It ends by returning to Heimaey where the book originally started and how the parish priest - who spoke the famous 'fire sermon' that supposedly stopped the lava flow not far from the church where he was preaching - was still being recognized and revered.The abolitionist movement had continued in England with stories being published of atrocities in the colonies and movements to boycott sugar. The children of plantation owners sometimes faced discrimination or ridicule when enrolling in prestigious universities for the ill-gotten wages of their parents. Much like the United States, the nation was increasingly divided but with a growing movement toward a solution that ultimately included abolition. On Fire Island is told from the perspective of Julia, a book editor who passed away at the young age of 37. We follow along with Julia as she experiences her final summer on Fire Island - as an observer that nobody else can see. We meet a delightful cast of characters and get to know them through Julia's eyes. In his private teachings to his fellow enslaved people, Sharpe emphasized those passages of the Bible explicitly dealing with freedom. Four passages in particular drew his attention: “No man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24); “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36); “Ye are bought with a price: be ye not servants of men” (1 Cor. 7:23); “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is nether male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ” (Gal. 3:28). He appears to have neglected all those that seemed to justify slavery or harped upon obedience—the favorite localized theology of the established church.” Island on Fire is a dramatic day-by-day account of these transformative events. A skilful storyteller, Tom Zoellner uses diaries, letters, and colonial records to tell the intimate story of the men and women who rose up and briefly tasted liberty. He brings to life the rebellion's enigmatic leader, the preacher Samuel Sharpe, and shows how his fiery resistance turned the tide of opinion in London and hastened the end of slavery in the British Empire. Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe highlight the historical affects of Iceland's Laki volcanic eruption of 1783 and how it significantly influenced the field of volcanology. They do a good job of describing the science of volcanoes and what we understand about eruption events while walking us through what many people experienced because of Laki in 1783-1784. This is a good book to read about volcanoes from the vantage point of an under-discussed eruption from the land of ice and fire.