Italy was a country that had overstretched itself before the beginning of this war, with conflicts in Africa from pacifying Liberia and invading Abyssinia/Ethiopia and also sending troops to assist in the Spanish Civil War. I haven’t read a lot set in Italy during WWII – most of what I end up reading is very much focused on German/French/British settings and I was surprised tor read just how much damage retreating German troops did in parts of Italy after Italy “flipped”sides and declared war on Germany. Her father believes a lot of what her grandmother does is “witchcraft” and he’s not really willing to listen to reason. Looking back now, it’s a bleak life, especially in times of hardship when feeding big families becomes difficult. They get to sixteen or so and they leave their father’s homes and go straight to their husband’s homes and start producing babies. And he’s very much a product of his time and location, the authoritarian Italian father whose job it is to see his daughters are taken care of but he was so focused on this one thing, because unfortunately in this time, girls had no protection without being married. I felt for Giulia because she had so much that she wanted to achieve and her ambition was stifled so often by her father. Of course they didn’t want to marry me off to some random guy their age, unlike Giulia’s father but it was the same vibes. I’m old enough to be Giulia’s mother but reading this sent me right back to being this indignant teenager and wanting to defy my parent’s every command. It’s arranged that she will go to a monastery and study with a healer there but her father will think she is having some instruction on manners and behaving herself. She wants to learn her craft and be apprenticed with her grandmother – she’s not interested in marriage and babies and keeping a home. He’s very much a “I am your father and my word is law and you will obey” type of figure, which causes a lot of problems between him and Giulia. Her father though, is very against this and wants her married off and settled, against Giulia’s will. Giulia is sixteen and has already shown that she has some gift as a healer, like her maternal grandmother. There’s also the brewing situation in Europe with the rise of Hitler and Mussolini’s treaty with him, which seems almost certain to drag them into more wars. Her family has a small farm that provides for their livelihood but Italy is going through a time of upheaval with division between the north and south and the ambitions of Mussolini, who wants to create an empire, increase Italy’s territory and provide more land to farmers. Giulia is a young girl living in Calabria, right at the “toe” of Italy. She is definitely becoming one of my favourite historical fiction authors and I appreciated this somewhat unique perspective of World War II. This is the second Tania Blanchard novel I have read and I have enjoyed both of them enormously. Can she find a way to fulfill her dreams or will the echoes of war drown out her voice? Whispers of war are at every corner and her beloved village, once safe from the fascist agenda of the North, is now in very real danger.Ĭaught between her desire to forge her own path and her duty to her family, Giulia must draw on the passion in her heart and the strength of her conviction. While she loves her home and her lively family, she would much rather follow in her nonna’s footsteps and pursue her dream of becoming a healer.īut as Mussolini’s focus shifts to the war in Europe, civil unrest looms. In a remote farming village nestled in the mountains that descend into the sparkling Ionian Sea, young and spirited Giulia Tallariti longs for something more. Another heart-rending novel inspired by a true story from the bestselling author of The Girl from Munich. Blurb : Set in Mussolini’s Italy amid great upheaval, this is the story of one woman’s determination to find her place in a world that men are threatening to tear apart.
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