Review by Booklist Review
Bowen's second foray into straight historical fiction, after In Farleigh Field (2017), intertwines two time lines, of a father and daughter. Joanna Langley has mixed feelings about the sudden death of her disapproving father. While cleaning out his attic, she discovers a passionate letter, returned unopened from Italy. During the war, Sir Hugo Langley was shot down over a small village in Tuscany, where the kind Sofia Bartoli clandestinely tends his broken leg. Soon a friendship blossoms. The letter assures Sofia that Hugo hid their beautiful boy, and Joanna heads to Tuscany to see if she has a half brother. Instead, she meets Renzo Bartoli, bitter at having been abandoned by his mother after the war. While Joanna learns to appreciate the beauty of the Italian countryside especially the fresh, simple food she tries to unravel the mystery of her father's time in Italy. But not everyone in San Salvatore wants to relive the war, and soon she is the subject of a murder investigation. The alternating narratives keep the story moving along, and the pastoral setting is transporting.--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In her new stand-alone, Bowen (In Farleigh Field, the "Royal Spyness" and "Molly Murphy" series) gives us two stories wrapped in family history. Going through her recently deceased father's belongings, Joanna Langley finds a letter that stimulates her curiosity about the period when he was shot down over Tuscany during World War II. Seeking to understand more about the distant man with a serious limp, she begins to wonder if the events of the war shaped his later life. At a personal crossroads of her own, Joanna decides to travel to the Italian village mentioned in the letter in hopes of learning more about what happened there. The story shifts between his story of survival and her story of discovery. The villagers are not eager to recall the German occupation, and Joanna's questions set off a series of events none of them would have anticipated. Verdict There are few surprises here, but readers who enjoy World War ll historical fiction and rural Italian culture will appreciate this story by a master of her genre.-Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
