Great book. A story of a courageous young woman, that risks everything to help her brother while he joins the resistance warriors trying to help the allies liberate Italy from the Germans and in the middle of the chaos falls in love with the jewish young man she rescues and brings back to health.
Giovanna is called to her parents home, Villa Farfella, as her father is dying. She sits with him and then goes to lie down in her childhood room and is brought back to history 50 years ago.
We are brought back to Italy during World War II and the uncertainty that war can bring. Giovanna's brother, Giorgio, has decided that he is going to work with the partisans, who are aiding the Allies in fighting the takeover of Italy from the Germans.
This information has made their father very angry and he has asked Giorgio to leave the house and never come back. The father is a strong minded Fascist and believes that Italy can save itself from the German army.
Giovanna has always been considered the weaker of the two siblings, even though she knows in her heart that she is made of stronger stuff than she is given credit for. She attempts to prove that to herself as she tackles things at the local Catholic Church with the nuns and the children of families that are torn apart.
She becomes involved with a German soldier that is part of a group that have taken over the main floor of her family home and also the church. Eventually she realizes that her involvement with Klaus is not what is appropriate and becomes involved in a secret clinic that is helping aid and nurse the partisans back to health.
This is when she meets a young Jewish man who really changes her resolve about the atrocities that are occurring during this war. She falls in love with him and risks many things to keep him alive.
Giovanna has a heart of gold, but is only a young girl with many things to learn and many people that would like to teach her things. Some have their own reasons for doing so, and some are really trying to make her understand things as they really are.
We are brought back to Italy during World War II and the uncertainty that war can bring. Giovanna's brother, Giorgio, has decided that he is going to work with the partisans, who are aiding the Allies in fighting the takeover of Italy from the Germans.
This information has made their father very angry and he has asked Giorgio to leave the house and never come back. The father is a strong minded Fascist and believes that Italy can save itself from the German army.
Giovanna has always been considered the weaker of the two siblings, even though she knows in her heart that she is made of stronger stuff than she is given credit for. She attempts to prove that to herself as she tackles things at the local Catholic Church with the nuns and the children of families that are torn apart.
She becomes involved with a German soldier that is part of a group that have taken over the main floor of her family home and also the church. Eventually she realizes that her involvement with Klaus is not what is appropriate and becomes involved in a secret clinic that is helping aid and nurse the partisans back to health.
This is when she meets a young Jewish man who really changes her resolve about the atrocities that are occurring during this war. She falls in love with him and risks many things to keep him alive.
Giovanna has a heart of gold, but is only a young girl with many things to learn and many people that would like to teach her things. Some have their own reasons for doing so, and some are really trying to make her understand things as they really are.
Giovanna, a young, naïve and sheltered wealthy Catholic girl is coming of age in 1943 in northern Italy. She lives very comfortably in a villa with her parents but instead of enjoying parties and meeting young men now that she is 17, German officers commandeer her villa and push her family into the servants quarters. Having Nazi officers occupying her family home and the convent where she assists the nuns in their teaching makes the war personal and changes Giovannas life.
The heroine starts the book as a young, foolish girl who makes many mistakes and does not understand the significance of the events unfolding around her. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this young woman mature as she tries to figure out who she is.
She struggles with many conflicting emotions both as a young girl growing up and as a human being caught in an ugly war. Will she endanger her own life to do the right thing and help a complete stranger? How can one young girl help the Resistance movement her brother joined? Can she break free of her parents prejudices about religion and people and live life by her own convictions? This was a quick, thoroughly enjoyable read about a young girl growing up with World War II literally at her doorstep.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine program.
The heroine starts the book as a young, foolish girl who makes many mistakes and does not understand the significance of the events unfolding around her. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this young woman mature as she tries to figure out who she is.
She struggles with many conflicting emotions both as a young girl growing up and as a human being caught in an ugly war. Will she endanger her own life to do the right thing and help a complete stranger? How can one young girl help the Resistance movement her brother joined? Can she break free of her parents prejudices about religion and people and live life by her own convictions? This was a quick, thoroughly enjoyable read about a young girl growing up with World War II literally at her doorstep.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine program.
