Mario D'Arrigo transports his readers across time to life in war-torn 1940's Sicily as seen through the eyes of a young boy. In Mario's village the invasion of Sicily began with a wave of American warplanes dropping bombs indiscriminately. He recounts his parents' struggle with poverty and a passing War, and his mother's tenacious pursuit to emigrate to America to educate and improve the lot of her children. But how does a family in poverty raise the funds to pay for the passage of six on a ship to America? Was it even possible? While he recounts the struggle of his parents, Mario revelled in the freedom that the time and place afforded him of days filled with adventures in a countryside unchanged for generations. Through it all shines the loving bond that Mario shares with his father and the strength that he admires so much in his mother. WATERFALL IN THE HEAVENS, so named for the image that is conjured by the river of lava seen against the night sky during the eruption of Mount Etna, is a story of a young boy's adventure in an ancient and beautiful land, of a family's struggles of living in poverty in a small Sicilian village, and of a conviction to begin anew. But above all else, this is a story of the strength of a family and its pursuit of the American Dream.