The Tuscan Contessa by Dinah Jefferies
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction, WW2
Read: 29th December 2021
Published: 23rd July 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A sweeping new novel from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife.
In 1940s Tuscany, Contessa Sofia de' Corsi's peaceful home in a medieval villa among the olive groves has been upturned by the arrival of German soldiers. She is desperate to help her friends in the village fight back in any way she can, all while keeping her efforts secret from her husband Lorenzo, who fears for their safety. When Maxine, a no-nonsense Italian-American, arrives in Tuscany to help the resistance, the two women forge an uneasy alliance. Before long they find themselves entangled in a dangerous game with the Nazis, each trying to save the ones they love...
'Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time and place with lush descriptions, full of power and intensity' Kate Furnivall
MY REVIEW:
I've always wanted to read Dinah Jefferies but THE TUSCAN CONTESSA just didn't do it for me. It was OK but I've often struggled with stories set in Italy during the war. I'm not sure why...maybe something is lost in the translation of circumstances or I just don't find it as enthralling as the rest of those set in Europe during the same time. I guess because Italy was a convoluted mess during the war, particularly the latter stages.
The story follows the Countessa, Sofia de Corsi, who lives with husband Lorenzo in the beautiful family owned property of Castello de Corsi contained within the walled village. Respected in the community, the de Corsis were well loved and well liked. Lorenzo worked for the Ministry of Agriculture which saw him travel for long periods thus taking him away from Sofia.
Under Mussolini, Italy formed an alliance with Germany in the fight against England and her Allies, therefore placing the Mediterranean country under Germany's martial law. However, the country was ripped in two as half of them fought against the facists loyal to Mussolini and the underground movement that formed a resistance against the Germans. Living under such conditions it would be hard to know who you could trust under such circumstances. How could you know who was a spy and who to trust?
Sofia becomes involved in the resistance movement, of which her husband Lorenzo is unaware, placing the Castello and those around them in danger. Lorenzo, however, doesn't share his wife's sympathies for the partisans preferring her to remain dignified as befitting in someone in her position should be. Then when German officers arrive at the Castello, life becomes dangerous for Sofia and those around her particularly when a Commandant takes a keen interest in her.
When Maxine, an Italian American, arrives to assist Sofia with the allied resistance, the women form an uneasy alliance to forge their way through the difficult and challenging circumstances. Maxine works for the allies passing information along about the Germans through the resistance chain. But can Sofia truly trust Maxine? Can she trust anyone?
An absorbing backdrop to the beautiful settings of Tuscany, Florence and Rome, THE TUSCAN CONTESSA weaves history and fiction together to form a tragic tale that highlights the worst of human nature as the heroines of the story fight against the brutalities of Nazi occupation.
There is a lot to like about this story but I just didn't love it. Although the setting of Italy is magnificent despite the horrific and brutal circumstances.
Dinah Jefferies is an accomplished master of conjuring the evocative narrative that tugs at your heartstrings whilst enveloping you in its descriptive setting. A story of love, betrayal, sacrifice and loss, THE TUSCAN CONTESSA brings the finer details of wartime occupation in Italy to life.
I would like to thank #DinahJefferies, #Netgalley and #Penguin for an ARC of #TheTuscanContessa in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
When her son Jamie was fourteen he was killed in an accident at school and the experience went to underpinning the emotional power of her writings including her debut 2013 work The Separation.
Her 2015 novel, The Tea Planter's Wife , was a choice for the Richard and Judy Book Club and was in the Sunday Times best sellers list for 16 weeks continuously from September until Christmas 2015, topping it twice during that time. Her next novel in 2016 novel, The Silk Merchant's Daughter, also entered the Sunday Times top 10. She has been a bestseller in Italy with both The Tea Planter's Wife and her 2017 book Before the Rains. The Sapphire Widow was published in April 2018. It too was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for Summer 2018 and it also entered The Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers list within 3 days of publication, staying there for three weeks. Her next book, The Missing Sister, was published in March 2019, though the eBook and Audio books were published a few weeks earlier. The eBook reached no 1 on the Amazon Kindle charts and the paperback entered the UK top 10 best sellers at no 8 after just three days of sales. She reached 13 in the Italian charts with that book.
Having mainly based her books in South/South-East Asia, her 2020 book, The Tuscan Contessa, is set in Tuscany, Italy, during WW2. It was published in Italy and in the UK in July 2020. Her books have been published in over 30 different languages.
In September 2020 she changed publisher from Penguin Random House to HarperCollins UK, with a contract for a trilogy starting with Daughters of War, a story of three sisters in war torn Dordogne, France, during WW2. It was published on 16th September, 2021, and went straight into the Sunday Times top 10 selling paperbacks after three days of sales.
Dinah now lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
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