Echoes of War by Tania Blanchard

 This was an engaging, but fairly miserable book about a brave young Italian girl living through The Second World War. The atmosphere is colourful and well-researched and the main character is very likeable but there are a lot of deaths in it. Of course, it's wartime and this is realistic.

Guilia, young and ambitious, persuades her father to let her learn to be a healer. She enjoys her studies but she has to obey her father when he wants her to marry an older man. Luckily, they have a happy marriage, but when her husband is killed in an accident, Guilia will have to cope with the ravages of war largely on her own as her father and brothers have joined up. When Italy becomes caught between the Allies and the Axis powers, life becomes extremely difficult for the family.

Although I enjoyed this, I found it a bit hard to read about a family 'on the enemy side'. On the other hand, it was still a bit unusual to read a book set in beautiful Italy during the war, although there seem to be a lot being published now. I am interested in reading more books by Tania Blanchard.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.