April 1, 2021
With a withered leg due to the ravages of polio, Francesca does not seem a likely Resistance fighter. But that's exactly what makes her so valuable in Rome during the Nazi occupation, able to slip past Germans with grenades in a laundry basket. Francesca came to Rome with her beloved Giacomo, a medical student who is captured by the Nazis. Instead of hiding in their apartment, she searches for him and does all she can to help the Resistance. At the same time, Lucia and her little boy, Matteo, are trying to survive on small rations, when Lucia witnesses the terrible price her elderly neighbor pays for harboring wounded Italian soldiers. The daughter of staunch Mussolini supporters, whose brother gave his life for fascism, she finds herself drawn into doubts about the beliefs she was raised to support. When these two women fighting for survival in war-torn Italy meet, and Lucia offers her services to the Resistance, they must choose the right path to take. A riveting, realistic historical novel.
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