Fire mountain

"On Thursday 8 May 1902 the citizens of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, huddled together in their spectacular cathedral of Notre Dame. For only God could save them from the disaster about to befall their city. Earlier that morning, the sky had turned black with volcanic dust and a slow, steady rain of ash had begun to fall on the city. Mont Pelee, the island volcano that had remained dormant for so long, had suddenly come alive." "The rumblings of the volcano soon turned into a savage roar, and within minutes the beautiful city (hailed as the Paris of the Caribbean) had been destroyed along with its 30,000 inhabitants. The only apparent survivor of the disaster was Ludger Sylbaris, a twenty-seven-year-old labourer who had spent the previous night in solitary confinement in Saint-Pierre jail."--BOOK JACKET.