Italy | Paige's Page

*A November 2019 Amazon First Reads pick*.

“Why did pain exist? Why did evil exist? Why had God allowed men like Hitler and Mussolini to come to power?”

Beginning with the reprisal killings at Piazzale Loreto, the story goes through Italy’s political and militaristic transitions during Mussolini’s dethronement by the king starting with his banishment/hiding at La Maddalena. It has graphic moments and incorporates a fair amount of history. It recounts the Nazi’s invasion of Italy (though brief) and describes the implementation of antisemitic laws and practices in Italy during WW2. The story runs through each character’s conflict (mostly at night as the title implies) and continues as does Mussolini staying hidden. Each character is connected in some way and wants to learn Mussolini’s whereabouts to either help kill him, help reinstate him, or help imprison him. In this fictional tale, Mussolini’s death is not featured since the story ends beforehand. Because of this, I cannot say that I completely liked the fictional ending. It seemed to stop suddenly and without closure for the reader. The epilogue does account for his death, though the epilogue is a statement of facts.

“Now the king has removed il Duce from power and hidden him away, and everybody is desperately trying to find him– the Allies to take him prisoner, Hitler to rescue him, our comrades to kill him.”

There are a lot of characters in motion, and they skip around quite a bit. The chapters alternate without pattern, and a new character is introduced all the way until chapter 12. This took some adjusting as a reader.
For example- chapter 1 Sarah, chapter 2 Mussolini, chapter 3 Frederico, chapter 4 Luca, chapter 5 Maria, chapter 6 Don Claudio, chapter 7 back to Mussolini, chapter 8 Silvio Merino, chapter 9 back to Luca, chapter 10, back to Sarah, and chapter 12 Otto.
There are not any indicators under or above the chapters such as the location, date, or character POV, so you have to figure it out as you go. Because of this, I do not recommend reading this book over a long period of time or it could be confusing to remember all of the various characters.

The characters POV include members of the Italian resistance, Benito Mussolini, priests, Nazi’s, Jews in hiding, Italians hiding Jews, counterfeit artists.
My favorite chapters were told from Mussolini’s POV and the Don Claudio (the priest) POV.

It is a good entertaining story. The writing is simple and easy to understand. There are traitors and secrets. I still really liked it even though I didn’t completely like the end and though it was hard to get emotionally attached to the characters though since there were so many. There is mild vulgar language and scenes that imply sexual acts.

***This was taken from author*** ***Roland Merullo’s site.***

|Purchase on Amazon| Goodreads Review|

1944, Venice: Stella, a member of the Venice Resistance Central Brigade, takes a job working in Nazi headquarters to help pass information to the resistance. Stella, an anti-fascist, risks her life daily by working among Black Brigade fascists and Nazi’s where she helps type and translate documents for them. Working for the enemy, Stella is asked to translate a document that will change her future and cause her to choose between her country or her family.

2017, Bristol: Luisa’s mother dies and she begins to go through her things. She unearths a plethora of artifacts that relate to her grandmother in her mother’s attic. Luisa seeks to find answers about who she is and the roots of her maternal family.

Historically: This is one of the stronger novels that pays homage to the women involved in the movements of resistance. The Jewish ghetto raids, the Bloody Summer of Venice, the bombing of Guidecca, the Riva dei Sette Martiri tragedy, and many others made a detailed appearance in this fictional account. The Nazi reprisals in Venice that were witnessed by Stella really struck a chord with me. The Ca’Littoria and Santa Maggiore jail are mentioned several times in this novel, though never any harrowing details.

My technical notes: Out of forty chapters total, fourteen of those chapters took place during modern day with Luisa’s character in 2017/2018. Luisa’s chapters in 2017/2018 are notably much shorter. Most of the story centers around the past during 1944 in Venice with Stella (26 chapters to be exact). A romance is involved and does play a large role in the story; however, I felt like it did not detract from the historical elements. I felt the romance complemented the story well. No vulgarity and no sexy details.

I really enjoyed this novel and learned a lot about Venice during 1944. I enjoyed the mystery behind Stella’s job and co-workers, which kept me trying to figure out who Stella could trust and who she couldn’t. Sometimes there were too many descriptions of the scenery concerning Venice that caused me to feel disengaged. I did not specifically look forward to Luisa’s chapters until the second half of the book. I appreciated that most of it focused on Stella rather than Luisa. The ending was fast paced and I blew through it. Overall, it really caused me to think about how we measure valor and it was a good read. Lovers of WWII historical fiction will enjoy The Secret Messenger.