A review by smalltownbookmom
Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson

5.0

I was nervous that this book wouldn’t be able to live up to the extremely high standard Robson set with her last novel, The Gown (one of my favourite books from 2019). Boy was I wrong! Warning there are spoilers ahead so don’t read to the end if you want to be completely surprised. At the core of her newest book is perhaps the most moving love story of any two fictional characters I’ve read. Catholic farmer Nico and Antonina (Nina), the daughter of a famous Jewish doctor pose as a married couple in order to protect Nina in Nazi occupied Italy. The first 70% of this novel is a charming, detailed look at the Gerardi family and life on their farm outside a small Italian village. Life on a farm is a big adjustment for Nina, a city girl from Venice, but she eventually gets the hang of the multitude of chores that need doing; slowly coming to fall in love with both Nico and his whole family. Their idyllic country life is not to last when a local Nazi official sets his sights on both Nico and Nina (him for his resistance work and her because of her religion). As the war winds down Nico and Nina get torn apart by the most tragic of circumstances only to ultimately find their way back to one another. Not a typical WWII historical fiction - the Italian setting was fun to learn more about and I also didn’t miss having a dual timeline - the story is set exclusively in 1940s Italy. This book was 10/10 for me - both heartwarming and heartbreaking - affecting my emotions as only the best writers are able to do.