This book is a neat look at art during WWII as the Nazi soldiers “invade”. The story starts in Rome in 1943. Art lover, Marina Tozzi, helps her father run an art gallery there. Her father is killed for harboring a Jewish artist. Marina flees to Florence’s Villa I Tatti, owned by her father’s friend, American Bernard Berenson. He has accumulated a collection of artwork that he wants to protect and eventually donate to Harvard. Also at the villa is Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who curated J.P. Morgan’s library. I read The Personal Librarian which is a book about Belle’s work at J.P. Morgan’s library. The way I pictured Belle while reading The Personal was completely different than how I pictured her in A Girl During the War. Belle works beside Marina as Bernard sneaks art pieces to Switzerland. The next-door neighbor Carlos becomes a love interest of Marina’s. He disappears though. At the end of the book, Marina travels to Buenos Aires in 1948 where Nazi soldiers had fled and walked freely enjoying themselves. This was one where it focuses on the mundane day-to-day aspects but then skips years. Some parts felt slow then others felt rushed. I’m not sure how it could have been written differently and still covered the important events. The ending was perfect and it is an enjoyable read. I really want to invent a new title for the book. Maybe the title “Galleries for Generations to Come” or something referring to the preservation of book and art collections. Thank you to Atria books for sending me the advanced copy.
If you are looking for an indigenous author to support in November, then This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger has a great historical fiction read for you. Krueger is a member of the Anishinaabe ( Ojibwe ) tribe. This dialogue between a bit so likable character Jack and the teen narrator Odie will give you a good idea of the story. “Ask me, God’s right here. In the dirt, the rain, the sky, the trees, the apples, the stars in the cottonwoods. In you and me, too. It’s all connected and it’s all God. Sure this is hard work, but it’s good work because it’s a part of what connects us to this land, Buck. This beautiful, tender land.” Jack in Chapter 20. Odie then replies with his theory about how “God is a tornado.” which refers back to when a tornado killed a loving teacher, Mrs. Frost. The book was originally published in 2019 and is great as an audiobook coming in at 14 hours and 19 minutes on regular speed versus 464 pages of hard copy. ...
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