The story opens in 1943 in Rome. Marina Tozzi returns home to find her father and the young man he has been hiding murdered by the Nazis. Fearing for her life, she flees to the home of an American family friend in Florence. She is offered a position of cataloguing his personal library. While there she meets Carlos, a partisan, with whom she becomes romantically involved. She believes he loves her as much as she loves him. Then he vanishes.
Both the architecture and art of Florence are vividly brought to life in this well told story. Marina, a student of art, suddenly finds her entire existence upended as the result of her father's murder. Not quite alone, but almost. Even though she is sheltered by her hosts, she grieves the loss of the love filled and meaningful life she and her father shared. Can she find a sense of purpose helping Carlos? If he is truly gone for good, what is ahead for her? The answer to that turns out to be quite surprising.
A GIRL DURING THE WAR is many things. The narrative tells about what it sometimes took to get the resources to help hide people from the Nazis. Always present is danger and fear of what is to come next. The characters are a varied group and their unique personalities, along with a well plotted story line, make this story well worth reading. Highly recommended.
Rome, 1943: University student Marina Tozzi is on her way home when she finds out that her father has been killed for harboring a Jewish artist in their home. Fearful of the consequences, Marina flees to Villa I Tatti, the Florence villa of her father’s American friend Bernard Berenson and his partner Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who once curated J.P. Morgan’s library.
Florence is a hotbed of activity as partisans and Germans fight for control of the city. Marina, an art expert, begins helping Bernard catalog his library as he makes the difficult trek to neutral Switzerland, helping to hide precious cultural artifacts from the Germans. Adding to the tension, their young neighbor Carlos, a partisan, seeks out Marina for both her art expertise and her charm. Marina, swept up in the romance, dreams of a life together after the war.
But when Carlos disappears, all of Marina’s assumptions about her life in Florence are thrown into doubt, and she’ll have to travel halfway around the world to unravel what really happened during the war.
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