'Christmas was almost upon them. Sofia reported that Cosimo had shot a wild boar in the forest. "We have to keep it a secret," she said, "because we are not allowed to own weapons and if the Germans found the boar, they would take it from us. They love their meat. But our men will cut it up in the forest and deliver a portion to each family in San Salvatori, so we can each have some meat for the holiday. And guess what I will do? I will make a wild boar ragout! The tin you gave me contained tomatoes! I'm so excited! And I'll make a chestnut cake! A real holiday feast!" After she had gone Hugo pictured her face, her joy. "She finds happiness in such small things," he thought.
It is December 1944 and bomber pilot Captain Hugo Langley's Blenheim Bomber is shot down by German Messerschmitt over occupied Italian countryside and he is forced to parachute into enemy territory. He discovers that he has landed in Tuscany, near a remote hillside village called San Salvatori. The retreating German army is fortified along what is known as the 'German Gothic Line', north of Lucca, and is near enough to make frequent descents upon the village for food and supplies. Convoys of German troops were frequently bombed by American and British aircraft as they retreated through the Tuscan hillsides towards the north. This was further complicated by the activities of the local underground Partisan members (Italian Resistance) to sabotage, inhibit and fight the Germans who occupied their country. This created a very real and present danger. Reprisals for this activity were inflicted on whole villages, including men, women and children. Within the mountainous regions of Italy, an estimated 15 000 Italian citizens were killed by German soldiers in a series of whole village massacres during 1944. The lovely Sofia, a local village woman, discovers Hugo hiding in the rubble of a Monastery and undertakes to care for and feed him secretly, and a beautiful friendship of mutual care and trust unfolds.
Meanwhile, we are also taken into the future of June 1973, to learn the story of Joanna Langley, who has come back home to sort through the details following the death of her father, Hugo. While searching for the necessary legal documents her father may have left behind, she comes across a box of treasures that he put away after the war ended, including a love letter to a woman, Sofia, living in San Salvatori in Tuscany which was returned, unopened, 'no longer at this address'. Joanna has no knowledge of many aspects of her father's past, a man she found cold, distant and difficult. She decides to take herself, broken by much recent grief in her own life, on a journey to find out about the man she never knew: the warm and vibrant Hugo of the letter, and to try and discover what really happened to her father during the war.
This is a most beautiful book. The story, the characters, the Tuscan countryside and it's people, the journeys of discovery that Hugo, in 1944, and his daughter Joanna, in 1973, take to find both themselves and the true joy and meaning that has been missing from both of their lives. The food! After reading this book I am so desperate to pull out my Italian cooking book and try some of the authentic Tuscan recipes described. Rhys Bowen wrote in her personal notes on Goodreads, 'I wanted the theme of both stories to be healing through food. Hugo is kept alive by Sofia bringing him food, and Joanna is healed of her traumas and loss by being fed by Paola.
I can only say, as a passionate lover of good food, cooking and books that describe authentic cultural cooking, "Thank You!"
The plot makes for compulsive reading. It combines mystery, nail biting tension, beauty, romance and the integrity of realistic human experience, during times that really happened to those who lived through the war and those who were raised by that 'silent' generation, that was largely broken by it in some form. I really enjoyed the journey I took through the perception of the two main characters, Hugo and Joanna Langley, with the emotive poignancy of Hugo and Sofia's story and winding through the unravelling of both narratives.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the masterly narrations of the Audible audiobook edition, which I adored listening to, by Jonaton Keeble (Hugo's Story) and Katy Soby (Joanna's Story). The choice to have the two different character's stories, which are clearly marked by chapter and title in the text edition, acted by two different narrators, made the understanding and remembering of various details in each story easy. Listening was an immersive and enjoyable experience. I also wish to acknowledge the beautiful cover art by Shasti O'Leary Soudant, for compelling me to try a book by an author whose previous more light- hearted serial works, I had not enjoyed. This sat on my TBR, actually impulsively purchased already on my phone, but constantly put off as I was nervous of disappointment. Finally, it's number came up on one of my Goodread Groups TBR challenge, I drew a deep breath and plunged in. The beautiful Tuscan scene depicted on the cover art had initially made me take a second look at the blurb, and subsequently, eventually discover a serious, stand alone work that has now made it into 'My 5 Star Reads' Hall of Fame.
Also PBT Trim the TBR #24
PBT Horizons culture #Tuscany
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
'Christmas was almost upon them. Sofia reported that Cosimo had shot a wild boar in the forest.
"We have to keep it a secret," she said, "because we are not allowed to own weapons and if the Germans found the boar, they would take it from us. They love their meat. But our men will cut it up in the forest and deliver a portion to each family in San Salvatori, so we can each have some meat for the holiday. And guess what I will do? I will make a wild boar ragout! The tin you gave me contained tomatoes! I'm so excited! And I'll make a chestnut cake! A real holiday feast!"
After she had gone Hugo pictured her face, her joy.
"She finds happiness in such small things," he thought.
It is December 1944 and bomber pilot Captain Hugo Langley's Blenheim Bomber is shot down by German Messerschmitt over occupied Italian countryside and he is forced to parachute into enemy territory. He discovers that he has landed in Tuscany, near a remote hillside village called San Salvatori. The retreating German army is fortified along what is known as the 'German Gothic Line', north of Lucca, and is near enough to make frequent descents upon the village for food and supplies. Convoys of German troops were frequently bombed by American and British aircraft as they retreated through the Tuscan hillsides towards the north. This was further complicated by the activities of the local underground Partisan members (Italian Resistance) to sabotage, inhibit and fight the Germans who occupied their country. This created a very real and present danger. Reprisals for this activity were inflicted on whole villages, including men, women and children. Within the mountainous regions of Italy, an estimated 15 000 Italian citizens were killed by German soldiers in a series of whole village massacres during 1944. The lovely Sofia, a local village woman, discovers Hugo hiding in the rubble of a Monastery and undertakes to care for and feed him secretly, and a beautiful friendship of mutual care and trust unfolds.
Meanwhile, we are also taken into the future of June 1973, to learn the story of Joanna Langley, who has come back home to sort through the details following the death of her father, Hugo. While searching for the necessary legal documents her father may have left behind, she comes across a box of treasures that he put away after the war ended, including a love letter to a woman, Sofia, living in San Salvatori in Tuscany which was returned, unopened, 'no longer at this address'. Joanna has no knowledge of many aspects of her father's past, a man she found cold, distant and difficult. She decides to take herself, broken by much recent grief in her own life, on a journey to find out about the man she never knew: the warm and vibrant Hugo of the letter, and to try and discover what really happened to her father during the war.
This is a most beautiful book. The story, the characters, the Tuscan countryside and it's people, the journeys of discovery that Hugo, in 1944, and his daughter Joanna, in 1973, take to find both themselves and the true joy and meaning that has been missing from both of their lives. The food! After reading this book I am so desperate to pull out my Italian cooking book and try some of the authentic Tuscan recipes described. Rhys Bowen wrote in her personal notes on Goodreads,
'I wanted the theme of both stories to be healing through food. Hugo is kept alive by Sofia bringing him food, and Joanna is healed of her traumas and loss by being fed by Paola.
I can only say, as a passionate lover of good food, cooking and books that describe authentic cultural cooking, "Thank You!"
The plot makes for compulsive reading. It combines mystery, nail biting tension, beauty, romance and the integrity of realistic human experience, during times that really happened to those who lived through the war and those who were raised by that 'silent' generation, that was largely broken by it in some form. I really enjoyed the journey I took through the perception of the two main characters, Hugo and Joanna Langley, with the emotive poignancy of Hugo and Sofia's story and winding through the unravelling of both narratives.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the masterly narrations of the Audible audiobook edition, which I adored listening to, by Jonaton Keeble (Hugo's Story) and Katy Soby (Joanna's Story). The choice to have the two different character's stories, which are clearly marked by chapter and title in the text edition, acted by two different narrators, made the understanding and remembering of various details in each story easy. Listening was an immersive and enjoyable experience. I also wish to acknowledge the beautiful cover art by Shasti O'Leary Soudant, for compelling me to try a book by an author whose previous more light- hearted serial works, I had not enjoyed. This sat on my TBR, actually impulsively purchased already on my phone, but constantly put off as I was nervous of disappointment. Finally, it's number came up on one of my Goodread Groups TBR challenge, I drew a deep breath and plunged in. The beautiful Tuscan scene depicted on the cover art had initially made me take a second look at the blurb, and subsequently, eventually discover a serious, stand alone work that has now made it into 'My 5 Star Reads' Hall of Fame.
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