Hiding from the Nazis in the guise of a Christian farmer's wife, a Jewish woman is met with suspicion by a Nazi official who harbors a vendetta against the former seminary student posing as her husband. Autumn, 1943. Life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive: to leave Venice and her family, to hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met. Nico Gerardi was...

Chiara Ravello is about to flee occupied Rome when she locks eyes with a woman being herded on to a truck with her family. Claiming the woman's son, Daniele, as her own nephew, Chiara demands his return; only as the trucks depart does she realize what she has done. She is twenty-seven, with a sister who needs her constant care, a hazardous journey ahead, and now a child in her charge. Several decades later, Chiara lives alone in Rome, a self-contained...

"This epic novel follows the life of a woman in the hardscrabble Italian countryside, from her girlhood through marriage and motherhood through two World Wars and during the Fascist party rule. A sweeping saga about womanhood, religion, loyalty, war, family, motherhood, and marriage, The Madonna of the Mountains is set in Italy during the 1920s to the 1950s, and follows its heroine, Maria Vittoria, from her girlhood through her marriage and motherhood,...

In a historical novel based on events at a small village in Tuscany during World War II, four African American soldiers from the 92nd Division, a band of partisans, and a young Italian boy come together to experience a miracle.

"Rome, 1943: University student Marina Tozzi is on her way home when she finds out that her father has been killed for harboring a Jewish artist in their home. Fearful of the consequences, Marina flees to Villa I Tatti, the Florence villa of her father's American friend Bernard Berenson and his partner Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who once curated J.P. Morgan's library. Florence is a hotbed of activity as partisans and Germans fight...

"An epic historical novel that chronicles the birth and rise of fascism in Italy, witnessed through the eyes of its founder, the terrifyingly charismatic figure who would become one of the most notorious dictators of the twentieth century, Benito Mussolini"-- 1919: The Great War that has ravaged Europe is over. In Italy, the people are tired of the political class, of vague promises, inept moderates, and the agonizing machinations of a democracy...

"The highly anticipated new standalone novel from Martin Cruz Smith, whom The Washington Post has declared "that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction," The Girl from Venice is a suspenseful World War II love story set against the beauty, mystery, and danger of occupied Venice. Venice, 1945. The war may be waning, but the city known as La Serenissima is still occupied and the people...

"Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amidst the rubble of war-torn...

Called to Nazi-occupied Italy in 1943, a German photographer and an American stenographer hunt for priceless masterpieces before they are destroyed by Hitler, in this pulse-pounding adventure inspired by the incredible true story of the Monuments Women, the Fifth Army WACs and the looted Florentine art collections during World War II. Summer, 1943. Eva Brunner is taking photographs of Nazi-looted art hidden in the salt mines of the Austrian hinterland....