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The Italian Romance
Lillian has had to make the hardest decision a woman can make. In war-torn Australia in 1947, she is forced to choose between her baby daughter and the love of her life, an Italian prisoner-of-war. She flees to Italy to make a new life in an act of love that haunts her for fifty years.
An unexpected meeting in Rome, decades later, with her abandoned daughter Francesca sets in motion a new chapter in both their lives.
Set between rural New South Wales and Italy, The Italian Romance examines the choices we make and their unexpected consequences. In this moving novel about families and the different faces of love, Joanne Carroll reminds us what it is to be human.
An unexpected meeting in Rome, decades later, with her abandoned daughter Francesca sets in motion a new chapter in both their lives.
Set between rural New South Wales and Italy, The Italian Romance examines the choices we make and their unexpected consequences. In this moving novel about families and the different faces of love, Joanne Carroll reminds us what it is to be human.
373 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 6, 2009
Don't let the title of this book put you off.
I thought The Italian Romance would be good to have on my shelf when I needed a bit of chick-lit or romance, but when I came to read it I realised it was not as light-hearted as that.
A romance, yes, but I found it a deep and moving story. During World War II a young woman falls in love with an Italian prisioner of war at one of the POW camps near the small Australian country town where she lives. She's married, her husband goes to war and she tries to forge a writing career for herself at the local paper - in the "women's news" section, of course.
The Italian is also a writer, and this brings them together. He however is also married, with a wife and son back in Italy, though his wife is Jewish and he does not know if they have survived. The story taking place in Australia is accompanied by the tragic story of what may have happened to this woman and her son on the other side of the world. At the end of the novel however the two stories are brought together beautifully.
It is a good while since reading this book, so I hope I have been accurate in my description of it - I do definitely remember The Italian Romance as a great, absorbing read and highly recommend it!
I thought The Italian Romance would be good to have on my shelf when I needed a bit of chick-lit or romance, but when I came to read it I realised it was not as light-hearted as that.
A romance, yes, but I found it a deep and moving story. During World War II a young woman falls in love with an Italian prisioner of war at one of the POW camps near the small Australian country town where she lives. She's married, her husband goes to war and she tries to forge a writing career for herself at the local paper - in the "women's news" section, of course.
The Italian is also a writer, and this brings them together. He however is also married, with a wife and son back in Italy, though his wife is Jewish and he does not know if they have survived. The story taking place in Australia is accompanied by the tragic story of what may have happened to this woman and her son on the other side of the world. At the end of the novel however the two stories are brought together beautifully.
It is a good while since reading this book, so I hope I have been accurate in my description of it - I do definitely remember The Italian Romance as a great, absorbing read and highly recommend it!
February 28, 2014
Interesting book.Australian writer. From ACT Public Library ebook. It is about a women who left her baby and husband for an Italian POW and went to Italy with him. It is divided into 3 stories of the women now in Italy and her meeting with her daughter, in the 1940's and the Italian mans wife who was eventually captured. It all links in the end.
January 31, 2020
I had no expectations of the book, it turned out to be a beautiful tale of lives.
May 22, 2019
It was a generally enjoyable romance.
April 6, 2016
Lillian starts out as a young woman in the early 1940's married and apparently content to an Australian man who signs up for the war. She is fey and he feels that she is somehow unreachable. He returns on leave and Lillian falls pregnant but continues to work for the local newspaper which she really enjoys. She's sent on an assignment with other male reporters to the P.O.W. camp and meets Antonio, who also writes. She and the Italian, who is also married, to a Jewish woman and has a son, Gianni - become deeply attached and when Lillian's husband returns home, he realises that she doesn't want him anymore. Lillian decides to leave her husband and takes the baby to a hotel, waiting for the Antonio, who has been released, with the intention of sailing for Italy. Lillian's husband turns up at the hotel, and bares his soul to Lillian, saying that the baby girl, Fransesca and Lillian, mean the world to him. Lillian manages to get Bernie off to sleep and then leaves quietly, without the baby - and joins Antonio for the voyage to Italy. Antonio finds out that his Jewish wife has died at Auschwitz and he spends 2 decades before he dies, trying to find Gianni, his son.
Fifty years later, her daughter turns up in Italy, partly on business and partly to finally confront her real mother. Lillian is by now a widow and a successful novelis, which is how Fransesca tracks her down.
Lillian desperately wants her daughter's forgiveness and love - which Fransesca is too bitter to give. However, there are some surprise developments for both women and there is a Rapprochement of sorts for Lillian and while not everyone is a winner, the story is still very satisfying. I rated it 5 stars.
Fifty years later, her daughter turns up in Italy, partly on business and partly to finally confront her real mother. Lillian is by now a widow and a successful novelis, which is how Fransesca tracks her down.
Lillian desperately wants her daughter's forgiveness and love - which Fransesca is too bitter to give. However, there are some surprise developments for both women and there is a Rapprochement of sorts for Lillian and while not everyone is a winner, the story is still very satisfying. I rated it 5 stars.
April 16, 2024
I journalled the reasons why I liked this, but...
... the blurb is misleading. Europe with devastated cities and towns and agricultural areas was "war-torn" by WW2 but Australia was most certainly not, not in 1947 or at any other time. "War-torn" implies major damage to infrastructure in both urban centres and rural areas over large swathes of a country, requiring major reconstruction in the post war era. But although small-towns Broome and Darwin were bombed in 1942, resulting in 88 and 235 casualties respectively and there was an air raid in Townsville which injured one child — the rest of Australia was untouched and cannot be said to be "war-torn".
... the blurb is misleading. Europe with devastated cities and towns and agricultural areas was "war-torn" by WW2 but Australia was most certainly not, not in 1947 or at any other time. "War-torn" implies major damage to infrastructure in both urban centres and rural areas over large swathes of a country, requiring major reconstruction in the post war era. But although small-towns Broome and Darwin were bombed in 1942, resulting in 88 and 235 casualties respectively and there was an air raid in Townsville which injured one child — the rest of Australia was untouched and cannot be said to be "war-torn".
November 4, 2013
Audio version of the book. There is no doubt that the author has talent, and there were some scenes that I really enjoyed. It was just a little slow, and misleading; the title and front cover alludes to a love affair In itaIy, but this was not quite the case. There was war, Germans, Jews, and I wrongly judged the book contents by the cover and got it wrong.
January 12, 2013
Interesting, but a bit slow for me.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews