book data
30 ratings, 4.27 average rating, 5 reviews
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published
May 10th 1996
by Picador
binding
Paperback, 224 pages
isbn
0330280244
(isbn13: 9780330280242)
description
When Italy made peace in the summer of '43, 50,000 Allied POWs, Eric Newby among them, walked away from their prison camps. But Italy was occupied by ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 37)
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
This is an extraordinary account of Eric Newby's survival as a prisoner of War in Italy during World War II. More importantly it is the story of the heroic generosity of the Italian peasants who secretly, and at great personal risk, sheltered the released prisoners after the armistice in 1943, but before the end of the war. The Germans were still fighting the allies in Italy and the Fascists declared death for anyone who aided former POWs. It is also a a story of a time and a sensibility so...more
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Read in October, 2007
This is one of those times when I wish you could give a book 3.67 stars...very interesting description of life in Italian mountain villages during WWII, the villagers' relationship with Newby--an escaped English war prisoner, and Newby's thoughts about war, soldiering, etc. etc. Written about 30 years after the war, it still feels very immediate. The immediacy is what makes it so affecting. There are places, though, where the descriptions went a bit overboard--I quite enjoyed War in the Apenni...more
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Read in August, 2007
This unpretentious but genuinely marvelous account of Eric Newby's harrowing months in the mountains of Italy in 1943 is one of the best books I've read all summer. Newby's style is dry, self-deprecating, and unexpectedly moving – especially when he writes about the remote farmers and villagers who sheltered him at the risk of their lives. This book was his way of thanking them, and it does justice to them all.
Read in July, 2004
Newby's writing can be rather dry, but in this recounting of his escape from the Germans in WWII Italy, he strikes a fine balance between mawkish sentimentalism and tough-guy posturing. An engrossing narration about the extraordinary measures ordinary people can and will resort to, to stay alive and to do what they think is right. Encouraging, inspiring, and highly recommended.
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One of Alice's favorite travel writer was a POW in Italy who was freed when Italy changed side and then went into hiding when the Germans occupied the country. Italian peasants hide him and he to top things off, he meets his future wife Wanda. Newby has such a joy for life and the people of Italy.
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