On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club: The Girl from Portofino by Siobhan Daiko #HistoricalFiction #WorldWarIIRomance #BlogTour @siobhandaiko @maryanneyarde

 

In 1970 Gina Bianchi returns to Portofino to attend her father’s funeral, accompanied by her troubled twenty-four-year-old daughter, Hope. There, Gina is beset by vivid memories of World War 2, a time when she fought with the Italian Resistance and her twin sister, Adele, worked for the Germans. 

In her childhood bedroom, Gina reads Adele’s diary, left behind during the war. As Gina learns the devastating truth about her sister, she’s compelled to face the harsh brutality of her own past. Will she finally lay her demons to rest, or will they end up destroying her and the family she loves?

A hauntingly epic read that will sweep you away to the beauty of the Italian Riviera and the rugged mountains of its hinterland. “The Girl from Portofino” is a story about heart-wrenching loss and uplifting courage, love, loyalty, and secrets untold.

Trigger Warnings:

The brutality of war, death, war crimes against women.

My Review

After reading The Girl From Venice, I knew I just had to read this book. I did not need the cover or the blurb to convince, me, I simply said that I would read it, and impatiently awaited the arrival of my copy. 

Gina finds herself travelling back to Portofino, her childhood home, at the news of her father’s death. While she is there, she finds herself remembering the war and her involvement in the Resistance. Her life has clearly changed a lot in the years since she fought, trying to save her country. The war is over, but it still has a grip on her, and secrets from the past seem to be uprooting themselves and making their truths known.

Gina’s twin sister, Adele, is someone whose existence Gina has kept from her daughter, Hope. While Gina went to fight for her country, Adele ended up working for the Germans, for the enemy. And yet, as Gina reads through a diary Adele left hidden in their childhood home, depicting Adele’s view of life during the war, and what she found herself doing after Gina left to join the Resistance, Gina quickly learns that not everything about Adele’s life was as it seemed. Both Gina and Adele were characters I found myself incredibly interested in learning about. Their lives were so different, and yet, in a way, they found themselves living the same sort of experiences. 

This book is the kind that sucks you into the pages and allows you to live alongside the characters. You will find yourself reading late into the night, for putting the book down is simply not an option.

If you are after quality historical fiction, this author is someone whose books you should be reading.

Buy this Book (and I highly recommend that you do)

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This book is available for free with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

Siobhan Daiko

Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and two rescued cats. After a life of romance and adventure in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK, Siobhan now spends her time, when she isn't writing, enjoying her life near Venice. 

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