First Line from Preface: On the evening of 12 March 1945, soon after dinner, there was a knock on the door at a modest house in one of Turin's northern suburbs, Il Terzo Quartiere, home to many of the workers in the city's vast industrial sector.
It wasn't until I listened to the audiobook of Mark Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky that I gave much thought to the Italian Resistance during World War II. Yes, I knew it existed, but that's about it. Then I came across A House in the Mountains, the true story of Ada, Frida, Silvia, and Bianca-- four women who risked everything to defeat Fascism in Italy-- and I knew I had to read it.
This is a rich, dense book filled with historical detail. I learned that Italy basically had to fight for its own survival with little outside help. The entire country and its inhabitants were held in deep suspicion by the UK and the US because of Mussolini's twenty-year reign. Besides, they believed the country was about to turn Communist anyway, and neither wanted to help Communists. Then Mussolini was overthrown, and now the Italian people had a new enemy: Germany. A sentence that made my blood run cold: "Italy, which had been a useless ally, was now occupied by men [Nazis] who had learned in Eastern Europe how to treat useless people."
Italy was now being brutally stripped of everything the Third Reich needed to fuel the war effort, and anyone who tried to stand in the way was murdered. The first to stand up and fight back were the women of Italy, who had been totally disenfranchised during Mussolini's reign. They stood up in their thousands and joined the Resistance, risking everything for their freedom.
A House in the Mountains is fascinating and inspiring, showing how the Resistance in Italy began and how it gathered strength, and I appreciate having a much better understanding of Italy and its people now.
A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism
by Caroline Moorehead
eISBN: 9780062686381
Harper © 2020
eBook, 416 pages
Non-Fiction, #4 in The Resistance Quartet
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased from Amazon.
That does sound so fascinating, Cathy! I don't know much at all about the Italian Resistance, so my interest is piqued right away. And it sounds as though those women were strong, interesting people - people I didn't know anything about. I can definitely see how this would appeal to you.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of research Moorehead did was incredible.
DeleteThe courage and strength of so many women during the war is remarkable. I don't know anything about the Italian Resistance either. That quote you included is truly chilling. Sounds like a fascinating read!
ReplyDeleteThe writing style was more "PhD" than anything else, which made it a hard slog at times, but well worth the effort for everything I learned.
DeleteIt seems you've found another winner!
ReplyDeleteI've had incredible good fortune lately in the books I've chosen to read.
DeleteWow...I don't think I've read anything about the Italian resistance. Thanks for the recommendation!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteI also am not familiar with the Italian resistance during WWII (you won't be surprised that I'm much more familiar with the French). This sounds like a good way to learn more. I've also had Beneath a Scarlet Sky recommended to me, but haven't gotten to it yet.
ReplyDeleteI was much more familiar with the French Resistance, too.
DeleteItaly had an amazing resistance. Bologna was the center of much of it. There was an Italian Holocaust which officially began when Mussolini read the anti-Jewish laws in 1938 which declared that no Jewish person was Italian (even if their families had lived in Italy for generations), couldn't marry a non-Jew, couldn't run businesses, etc. Jewish people were in a ghetto in Rome. I read a novel about this by Lisa Scottoline, "Eternal." When the Germans marched into Rome, they shot Italian soldiers, and then launched a terror campaign against the Jews. I learned from Scottoline's afterword and her website that many Jews were saved in Rome. I do want to read this book. Also, there is a book, "The Children's Train," which tells of former Resistance fighters who bring poor, starving children from the south of Italy, cities that were bombed, into the north to feed and educate them. It's fiction based on fact.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info, Kathy. Much appreciated!
DeleteOn library hold.
ReplyDelete