Playing with Fire, by Tess Gerritsen (2015)
Read: August 2, 2026
3 Stars
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Sunday, September 3, 2023
Books Set in Europe: Rome, Italy
Eternal, by Lisa Scottoline (2021)
This novel is about Italy during World War II, Fascism and the treatment of Jews.
Although the novel was historically correct, I didn't care for the characters. (It even addresses Syndrome K, which was how Catholic doctors saved a number of Jews by convincing the Nazis that the Jews were infected with a highly contagious disease called Syndrome K).
The plot revolved around three teenagers: Sandro, Marco and Elisabetta. They have been friends from childhood. The two boys vie for Elisabetta, who professes to love them both. Marco and Elizabetta are both Catholic; Sandro is Jewish. Sandro's father initially supported Mussolini, until Germany invaded Italy and Jews were forced into the Ghetto, then the camps.
The story line with Sandro, Marco, and Elisabetta didn't ring true.
Read: September 3, 2023
3 Stars
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Books Set in Europe; Tuscany, Italy
The Light in the Ruins, by Chris Bohjalian (2013)
The action of the novel The Light in Ruins, takes place in the last years of World War II in Tuscany, Italy and again 10 years later. The novel opens with the murder of Francesca Rosati in the 1950s. She had formerly been the aristocratic wife of a wealthy family in Tuscany. She was found with her throat cut and her heard removed. Soon thereafter, another member of the family is murdered in a similar MO.
Detective Serafina Bettini was assigned to investigate Francesca’s murder. When another member of the Rosati family is murdered in a similar manner to Francesca, Sarafina believes there is a link which is related to the family’s activity during the War. The Rosati family had been coerced to host Nazi and Fascist forces during the final days of the War.
On the Rosati estate were underground ancient Etruscan ruins and tombs. Filled with ancient artifact, the Nazi’s professed an interest in the relics, but had an ulterior motive of sending the valuables back to Nazi leaders.
Serafina, who had been a partisan during the War, suffered severe burns, the scars of which caused her to be self-conscious. Her investigation brings her to the Rosati estate, which triggers vague memories of her participation during the War.
During the final days of the War, the Rosatis family was forced to host the Nazis and the Fascists. Ancient Etruscan ruins and underground tombs were located on the grounds of their estate. The Nazi’s profess an interest in the tombs but have an ulterior motive of sending valuable relics back to their leaders.
Meanwhile, Cristina Rosati, the 18-year-old daughter, fell in love with a Nazi soldier. This did not endear her to her family or to the local villagers.
Serafina’s investigation of the murders forces her to face her own ghosts from the war. I didn’t find the ending completely satisfying, but the novel held my interest.
Read: September 14, 2022
3.5 Stars
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Books Set in Europe; Italy
Murder in Matera, by Helene Stapinski (2017)
Journalist Helene Stapinski grew up with the family lore of her great-great-grandmother Vita. Vita had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s with her two teenage son, leaving her husband behind. Vita was a murderess. She had killed someone and left Italy to escape punishment. She was also said to be a loose woman. Why did she leave her husband behind? She certainly paid the ultimate price for her crime when she, herself, was killed by a blow to the head at age 64.
Once in America, one of Vita’s sons went into a life of crime, as did the author’s grandfather. Now the author ponders whether there really is a criminal gene, and would it be passed on to her children?
This thought haunts her, so she decides to venture back to the family’s ancestral home in Bernalda, Italy ~ the instep of Italy’s boot to learn her family’s history. With little knowledge of her family background, with limited ability to speak Italian, and with two small children in tow, the author arrived in Bernalda and began asking questions. She comes up empty.
Ten years later, the author ventured back to Italy, this time armed with two capable researchers who assist her as she pores over public birth, death, marriage records, and court murder transcripts. What she finds astonishes her.
In the course of uncovering her family history, the author describes what life would have been like for the average peasant living hand-to-mouth in this rugged part of Italy. The wealthy landowners were still expected to sleep with a young bride of his peasant worker. The author envisions that this is what happened to Vita. Her telling of Vita’s life is largely fiction, but is a plausible snapshot of how people lived in Bernalda in the latter half of the 1800s.
Spoiler Alert: The trial transcript does, indeed, describe a murder. The murderer is not, however, Vita, but instead, her husband Francesco. The peasants are starving and do anything to get food for their families. In the dead of night, Francesco and two of his friends were out taking pears from their landowner’s property. They were confronted by whom they thought was the landowner. The landowner had a shotgun and shot at the three men, slightly injuring one. The other two men confronted the gunman, knocked him to the ground and badly beat him. The injured man died a few days later. Only later to they learn that the injured man was a young teenager, probably out to protect his family’s fruit orchard. Francesco is found guilty of manslaughter and sent to prison.
A close look at the birth certificates of Vita’s children reveals that Vita is the wife of Francesco, but that he is “far from town” at the time of the births. This leads the author to surmise that, with her husband in prison, Vita “gave” herself to the landowner in exchange for food. The author also realized that if there is a murderous gene, it was not in Vita’s side of the family afterall.
This was a fast-paced read. Much of what the author writes about her “murderous” great-great-grandmother is speculation, but does provide a glimpse of the harsh life of a peasant living in southern Italy in the later 1800s.
Read: April 16, 2022
4 Stars
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Books Set in Europe; Italy and England
Mapping the Edge, by Sarah Dunant (1999)
This was a very strange novel. It follows Anna Franklin, a single mother, who left her 6-year-old daughter, Lily in the care of her housekeeper to take a brief trip to Italy. Anna was writing an article about dating through the want ads. (Remember, this book was written over 20 years ago.) When Anna failed to return home, her two closest friends gather ponder what could have detained Anna.
The novel alternates between two different scenarios. Was Anna kidnapped by a man who wants her to be his dead wife, or has she found a companion who fulfills her sexual fantasies?
Sarah Dunant has also written several historical fiction novels, including The Birth of Venus. I liked those novels much better.
Read: August 25, 2020
3 Stars
Monday, October 10, 2016
Books Set in Europe and the United States
The Shoemaker's Wife, by Adriana Trigiani (2012)
This book had gotten good reviews, so I was looking forward to reading it. It was a disappointment to me. The novel was inspired by the author's grandparents who left the Italian Alps for life in America in the early part of the 1900s. The main characters, Enza Ravanelli and Ciro Lazzari, met in Italy and emigrated to America separate, where they eventually met up again and married. They grew up in poverty, and made it in America. The characters were too goody-goody for me. Trouble would befall them, but they never seemed to mind.
For some reason, I felt obliged to finish this book. As a result, it took me forever to read.
2 stars
Read: October 10, 2016
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Books Set in Europe: Italy
Blood and Beauty: The Borgias, by Sarah Dunant (2013)
This historical novel about the Borgias gets bogged down in places. Sarah Dunant has written several novels about Italy during the Renaissance. I enjoyed her earlier novels, The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan much better. I think that one needs a better history lesson of the Borgias and the events of Italy during the late 1400s and early 1500s to really enjoy this book.
3 Stars
Read: August 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
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