During the journey, the committee discovers that Mount Pelée is on the verge of eruption. When they try to warn the governor, he orders them to bury the evidence for fear of upsetting the upcoming election. As the pressure builds, a deadly mudslide inundates Emilie’s plantation and she disappears. Lt. Rémy deserts his post and sets off on a desperate quest to rescue Emilie. But with all roads blocked, can the lovers escape the doomed city of St. Pierre before it’s too late?

Sophie Schiller
was born in Paterson, NJ
and grew up in the West Indies.
She loves stories that carry the reader back in time
to exotic and far-flung locations.
Kirkus Reviews called her
“an accomplished thriller and historical adventure writer”.
Her novel, Island on Fire,
is a historical novel about the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century,
the eruption of Mount Pelee on Martinique.
She was educated at American University, Washington, DC and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

To find our more,
please visit her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter

At the end of WWI, Oscar, an American soldier in a French Army hospital, learned of his mother’s death while recovering from his war wounds. He remained in France to search for his father, an Impressionist painter, whose identity his mother never revealed. Through curious circumstances, he’s hired to be a gardener for Claude Monet.   Oscar jumped at the opportunity to further his landscaping career by working in Monet’s world-famous garden at Giverny. He hoped the most renowned Impressionist could help him find his father.​

Monet, tired and disheartened by his ailing health and deteriorating eyesight, took Oscar along on visits to his previous painting venues and allowed him to meet some of his art-world friends. These meetings provided insights into Monet’s life and art and clues to Oscar’s father’s identity.  ​

On a train returning from Paris to Giverny, Oscar met and fell in love with Isabelle, a beautiful young American artist, who introduced him to the emerging 1920’s fashions and mores. She is the daughter of one of Monet’s major American clients, which interests him. Over Monet’s daughters’ objections, Isabelle and Oscar become regular guests at family gatherings as their infatuation blossoms into a unique love affair. Oscar’s past, present, and future collide in a way that he could not have anticipated.

Joe Byrd‘s BS in Journalism
and MA in Communications degrees
inspired him to become a pioneer in electronic publishing.
As a McGraw-Hill editor,
he developed one of the first computer publishing systems.
In the rapidly developing PC software industry,
he co-authored one of his two books
using PC desktop publishing software,
the first for a major publishing house.
He developed the first technical support website in the software industry.
In his fifty-year career, he published magazines, wrote research reports,
and developed conferences in the US and Europe for the digital photography industry.
He launched one of the first digital photography dot coms. This is his first novel.

To find our more,
please visit his website, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

During the journey, the committee discovers that Mount Pelée is on the verge of eruption. When they try to warn the governor, he orders them to bury the evidence for fear of upsetting the upcoming election. As the pressure builds, a deadly mudslide inundates Emilie’s plantation and she disappears. Lt. Rémy deserts his post and sets off on a desperate quest to rescue Emilie. But with all roads blocked, can the lovers escape the doomed city of St. Pierre before it’s too late?

Sophie Schiller
was born in Paterson, NJ
and grew up in the West Indies.
She loves stories that carry the reader back in time
to exotic and far-flung locations.
Kirkus Reviews called her
“an accomplished thriller and historical adventure writer”.
Her novel, Island on Fire,
is a historical novel about the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century,
the eruption of Mount Pelee on Martinique.
She was educated at American University, Washington, DC and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

To find our more,
please visit her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter