The Girl from Venice

A Heart-Breaking Page-Turner, Based on Actual Events in Italy During Word War II

De: Siobhan Daiko

Narrado por: Rachael Beresford

From Siobhan Daiko, international best-selling author of The Orchid Tree, comes an epic new novel of love, betrayal, and finding where you truly belong. Set in Italy during World War II and the present day.

Lidia De Angelis has kept a low profile since Mussolini's laws wrenched her from her childhood sweetheart. But when the Germans occupy Venice in 1943, she must flee the city to save her life.

Lidia joins the partisans in the Venetian mountains, where she meets David, an English soldier fighting for the same cause. As she grows closer to him, harsh German reprisals and Lidia’s own ardent patriotic activities threaten to tear them apart.

Decades later in London, while sorting through her grandmother’s belongings after her death, Charlotte discovers a Jewish prayer book, unopened letters written in Italian, and a fading photograph of a group of young people in front of the Doge’s Palace.

Intrigued by her grandmother’s refusal to talk about her life in Italy before and during the war, Charlotte travels to Venice in search of her roots. There, she learns not only the devastating truth about her grandmother’s past, but also some surprising truths about herself.

©2021 Siobhan Daiko (P)2021 Siobhan Daiko

Heartfelt!

Siobhan Daiko has written a wonderful story of the lost and found souls during WWII.
Lidia De Angelis led a very traumatic life during that time. Her granddaughter,Charlotte, didn’t know about that time in Lidia’s life because Lidia refused to talk about it. After Lidia passed, her granddaughter found a Jewish prayer book and decided to go to Venice to see what she could find out about her ancestors. It was a wonderful story!
Rachel Beresford did an excellent job narrating it. She could do every characters voice with perfection. She could do both male and female with distinction.

Historical fiction vs Romance

Reads more like a romance novel. Reviews said it was very informational WW2 historical fiction about italian resistance, but if you're looking for that then I'd recommend "Beneath the Scarlet Sky" as it's much more intriguing and informative, minus all the romance dialogue which was so sappy it was almost unbearable.

Only one major criticism

The several sex scenes were gratuitous. Adding nothing to story. Waste of my time skipped it. Why not tell us more of what the partisans were up to and the numerous people who showed such loyalty to Italy and freedom. Other than that it was a great audio. Very good character development and such good descriptions of Venice and surrounding areas ..triumph and heartbreak. Such brave men and women and such evil nazis but worse than them were the black shirt italian fascists. Traitors to their country and fellow citizens. Highly recommend this audio. I came to know and love her father friends. And many others. Bittersweet

The plot was there but it got lost along the way.

I was a bit disappointed. Could have done without the Harlequin Novel romance between the modern characters.
Did enjoy the story of the freedom fighters. The history of Italy is so obscure during this period.

Wanted to rate it higher

I was a bit disappointed in the pronunciations by the narrator. Sometimes they were good and other times, even with words she pronounced well previously, were just off. It was a bit distracting.

While I liked the historical descriptions, the characters, and research that went into the book the author, it seems to me, arbitrarily places in the midst of this wonderful story love scenes that one would expect in a Fabio-covered romance novel. There is no real purpose to them in furthering the plot.

Potential unrealized.

Interesting approach to two lives from different worlds in parallel but was not pulled off effectively. Also, the writing was riddled with cliche' metaphors to the point of being distracting. Almost worked.