AUTHOR: Kat Devereaux
I'm a sucker for a good historical novel and this did not disappoint. Set in Italy during a few months in 1944, this story captures the desperation and bravery of people trapped in a war that's all too relevant today. Based on the real-life Italian resistance organization DELASEM -- the Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants -- the story is told through the perspectives of two characters: Anna, a Jewish woman living in hiding who assists DELASEM by forging identity cards, and Vittorio, a Jesuit priest working with DELASEM who rescues Anna when her home is destroyed during a bombing raid and finds her a safehouse where she can stay. A third character, Massimo Teglio, known as Mister X, is a real-life Jew whose work with DELASEM helped save most of Italy's Jewish population.
At the heart of this fictional story is an emotionally fraught love triangle that forms between Anna and the two men, complicated by Vittorio's vows and past histories that haunt all three characters. The prose is simple yet compelling and drew me in from the first page.
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