“In Etna’s Shadow” by Karen Landes – Italy Book Review

Sometime last year I was contacted by an expat living outside Naples who was interested in contributing some posts to WhyGo Italy. After corresponding with her for a bit, and reading some of her writing on her own blog, I was sold – and I’ve been really happy to put her work up on the website here. So when I heard that she was also waiting for the publication of her first book, and that it happened to be about Italy, I was really looking forward to checking it out. Now that I’ve spent a little time with it, I can definitely say it was worth the wait.

Karen Landes has a deep and abiding love for Italy, especially the parts of the country that are south of Rome. In fact, that’s the name of her blog – South of Rome – where she regularly reminds anyone who’ll listen that there’s plenty to see and do in The Boot besides the northern sights most people concentrate on. She’s currently living near Naples, but before that she lived in eastern Sicily for a couple of years – and that’s the part of the country that she focuses on in her new book, In Etna’s Shadow: Culinary Adventures from Eastern Sicily.

Based on the word “culinary” in the title, and the beautiful food photographs that populate every page, you might assume this was a cookbook. It’s not. Yes, there are a few brief recipes included, but I’d call this book more of a love-letter to a food culture. Even a casual flip through In Etna’s Shadow is enough to demonstrate Karen’s clear affection for both the food and the people of Sicily – and fortunately she’s also been gifted with not just a fantastic eye for photography but also the ability to put her affection into words.

Full Disclosure & Whatnot: Just so y’know, the author sent me a copy of this book for review purposes.