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A review by dawnsworldblog
Our Darkest Night: A Novel of Italy and the Second World War by Jennifer Robson
5.0
Set in Italy during the Second World War, Nina’s father is concerned for her safety as an Italian Jewish girl and so sends her away from Venice and the home and family she loves, to live on a farm in the countryside where, in order to stay safe, she will have to assume a new identity and pretend to be married to Nico. We then follow Nina and Nico and his family through the next couple of years while Italy became further under the Nazi regime.
Wow. This book stole my heart, ripped it out and then put it back together again. I made it as far as p.24 before I was sobbing and these were definitely not the only tears I shed over Nico and Nina’s story. They were such beautifully written characters and although their story was full of so, so much sadness and trauma, there was still an undercurrent of hope that ran through the book. I also adored all of the secondary characters in this book, Nico’s family, and Stella. Every single one of them left an impact on me.
Knowing that so much of what happened in this story was based on true events was absolutely heartbreaking and at times difficult to even comprehend but I think knowing the scale of atrocities that people went through, and not all that long ago, is so, so important.
Wow. This book stole my heart, ripped it out and then put it back together again. I made it as far as p.24 before I was sobbing and these were definitely not the only tears I shed over Nico and Nina’s story. They were such beautifully written characters and although their story was full of so, so much sadness and trauma, there was still an undercurrent of hope that ran through the book. I also adored all of the secondary characters in this book, Nico’s family, and Stella. Every single one of them left an impact on me.
Knowing that so much of what happened in this story was based on true events was absolutely heartbreaking and at times difficult to even comprehend but I think knowing the scale of atrocities that people went through, and not all that long ago, is so, so important.