Once again I am taking part in a virtual blog tour for The Coffee Pot Book Club. But before we get to my review, let's check out the blurb of today's spotlighted book!
1938. Northern Italy.
Since saving Angelo Grimani's life 18 years earlier, Katharina is grappling with how their lives have since been entwined. Construction on the Reschen Lake reservoir begins and the Reschen Valley community is torn apart into two fronts - those who want to stay no matter what comes, and those who hold out hope that Hitler will bring Tyrol back into the fold.
Back in Bolzano, Angelo finds one fascist politician who may have the power to help Katharina and her community, but there is a group of corrupt players eager to have a piece of him. When they realise that Angelo and Katharina are joining forces, they turn to a strategy of conquering and dividing to weaken both the community and Angelo's efforts.
Meanwhile, the daughter Angelo shares with Katharina - Annamarie - has fled to Austria to pursue her acting career but the past she is running away from lands her directly into the arms of a new adversary: the Nazis. She goes as far as Berlin, and as far as Goebbels, to pursue her dreams, only to realise that Germany is darker than any place she's been before.
Angelo puts aside his prejudices and seeks alliances with old enemies; Katharina finds ingenious ways to preserve what is left of her community, and Annamarie wrests herself from the black forces of Nazism with plans to return home. But when Hitler and Mussolini present the Tyroleans with “The Option”, the residents are forced to choose between Italian and German nationhood with no guarantee that they will be able to stay in Tyrol at all!
Out of the ruins of war, will they be able to find their way back to one another and pick up the pieces?
My Review
I was a little apprehensive about agreeing to review this book, as I have not read the first three books in the series. However, I was assured that it stands alone, and the blurb intrigued me, so I agreed and, when it came to sitting down and reading it, I cannot say I was disappointed with my choice. The different perspectives give a well-rounded view of the different situations, or rather the same situation, but in different areas, that the characters face. They are all linked, despite the distances, both in their relationships and proximity, and it is these links that draw the story together.
Katharina struggles throughout the course of this book, and I really felt for her. Her family is divided, with her daughter having left home and run away to Austria and her eldest son causing more violence than she can deal with. The heartbreak she feels whenever her son is named the culprit, at not being able to teach him better, tugged at my heartstrings as I read, and I so desperately wanted him to realise what he was doing and how he was hurting his family.
Angelo was an interesting perspective to read about, for he is the father to Katharina’s daughter, although he did not raise her. He left Katharina alone, but now he is being brought back to her, for there is a reservoir being built near Katharina’s home, and she is determined that she will not leave her home, no matter who asks. It is Angelo that she has trusted to help her, to help all of the community, and he strives to follow through on his promise.
Out of all the perspectives, my favourite has to Annamarie’s. Annamarie, Katharina and Angelo’s daughter, ran away from home to follow her dreams, to become an actress, but she gets pulled into another job, a job that puts her close to the NAZI party and away from the friends that she knows and trusts. Such ideals are put into her head that she is conflicted—does she betray her friends or protecting them? Which leads to her simply alienating them instead. She is so young to be making such decisions and to be influenced as she is, and I found myself wishing she would just see sense and go home to her mother.
I greatly enjoyed reading this book and, although it took me a little while to pick up on how the characters knew each other, I found myself not wanting to put this book down to do anything else. I will certainly be looking up the rest of the series.
Buy this Book
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
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