The beautifully hand-drawn true story of artist Joshua Santospirito's visit to the Aeolian Islands of Italy with his parents to seek out past connections and family roots.

Joshua and his father hope to locate the burial place of Joshua's great-great-grandfather on the island of Salina. But it's not always so easy to find the past you're looking for, nor to travel with your parents.

As Joshua learns more about the sun-drenched volcanic archipelago, its people, and their history, he also explores the mysteries of family - and the magic of creating your own place in the world.

This is a tale of migration and return, of the rise to stardom of actress Ingrid Bergman, of the cheeky wind god Aeolus, of ancestry, place, and belonging, and of so much more. Told from Joshua's unique and charming perspective, there is something here for everyone.


'Meaningful, poignant, and at times hilarious, this sumptuous book brings personal experience into close contact with a multilayered past, encompassing language, family history, mythology, and cultural memory.'
-Safdar Ahmed, author of the NSW Premier's Book of the Year Still Alive

'Santospirito's art is always playful and fluid ... Perhaps the most striking thing about the book is its quietly elegant structure, which weaves together Santospirito's episodic and digressive journeys to each of the seven islands into a moving, impactful whole. It's a book that interrogates memory, lineage and cultural identity to great effect.'
-Jack Rowland, Books+Publishing

'The Islands Where We Left Our Ancestors would be right at home alongside Australia's rich history of literary memoirs that explore family heritage.'
-Per Henningsgaard, The Conversation