Our ancestors call to us, especially when we are given such a small glimpse and are intrigued to learn more. Sadly, Anna’s mother has passed away and left her journals to her youngest daughter. As Anna reads them, she comes to two realizations: she will need help translating the Italian entries and she really wants to go see where her mother lived as a child and met her British soldier father during the war.

The older generation didn’t want to speak of the war. They had seen and experienced horrible things, but Anna wants to learn more about her mother, she must! And she is certain there are some older residents in the area that may even remember her mother. As Anna begins her journey into her mother’s past, she comes across family secrets that can change everything.

The story is well written and brings together the life of locals in Italy during the war and the modern day life that Anna is living. History, family, and love come together to overcome everything and help Anna understand her Mother in a way she never could when her Mother was alive. Be prepared to be transported to Tuscany as you immerse yourself in this story.

An unexpected delight! I thought this story was going to be predominantly a tale from the war however it was mostly set in the present day with flashbacks through the form of diary recordings to World War 2.

Anna is bereaved of her Italian mother (Ines) and decides to travel to Italy to find out more about her family history given some of the snapshots Ines provided in her later life.

As part of Ines' Will, Anna is bequeathed the sum of £50,000 and also some old documents belonging to her parents written in Italian and she uses the money to travel to the region Ines grew up to make some sense of the past and Ines' reference to the harbouring of a member of the opposition during the war which was punishable by death. This leads to the diary entries that follow Anna's parents marriage which was sorrowful and truly affected by the war.

Anna stays in a family guesthouse, making friends with Teresa and Francesco (siblings) whilst also utilising Francesco to decipher the letters and diary recordings Ines has left behind. This is where the history aspect comes in which was not touched on as frequently as I'd expected as Francesco types up the translated version in stages but it still made for fascinating, and sometimes horrifying, reading. Francesco and Anna also visit some of the places that are referred to in Ines' diary recordings which was a nice 'then and now' touch. I liked the snippets of Italian used throughout as it made me feel like I was learning some of their beautiful language.

A really sad book due to the content but the ending was fitting and the book was very sensitively written.

My many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.