This is the second in the series. It is fast paced but also heartbreaking.
The characters were great and I was rooting for them. This is a great historical fiction series

This book was in the genre of historical fiction that I most like, the dual timeline. But in my personal opinion, not enough years had passed for this type to capture my complete interest. The prose was good and I loved the descriptions surrounding the Italian locations. I did enjoy the book overall just probably not enough to read it again. But I will definitely be looking for other books by this author.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

“No one knows what the future will bring. We should make hay now while the sun is shining, or else we might regret it.”

✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮

Second book in the Italian resistance girls series, but works amazingly as a stand-alone too! I really loved this book, it’s always a great reminder of what some people in the war went through, and how incredibly lucky we are now. The book flits between the present (1970) and the past (1940s), and uses Adele’s diary to trigger flashbacks. It was really well written!

The characters were incredible, and I found myself rooting for Adele and Gina, in the past, the whole way through. But this really is a story that has been buried for 25 years, that should have been shared sooner with Hope. The journey taken through Adele’s journal was extreme lay moving and I found myself breaking down in tears often throughout this book!

This a series that will stay with me for a long time, and I recommend for anyone who likes a good piece of historical fiction.

The Girl from Portofino is the second in a series about women of the Italian resistance. The narrative follows Gina, the mother of Hope, who she worries about even though she is grown up, back to her hometown of Portofino and memories of the Italian Resistance. She has never brought Hope back to the country of her birth and the story begins to unravel some of the past that holds the mother and daughter apart.
The book is well written with a lot of detailed historical information woven into the plot. I really enjoyed the descriptions all the close combat fighting the partigiani go through and the heroics that they show to try and stop the Nazi onslaught.
The setting is beautifully evoked as well and it whet my appetite for my visit to the Italian Riviera this summer.
The only thing that stopped me giving it 5 stars is that I felt that I could predict the ending - although this didn't stop me enjoying the book overall and I would definitely read more by this author in the future!
Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for an advanced release copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another great book from Siobhan Daiko, another great Historical Fiction novel and another great read.

Okay, yes.. I am a huge fan of historical fiction but they do have to grab my attention and keep me reading and this one did just that. This is the story of Gina, the past, the war and her sister Adele. It gets right to the heart and and grabs hold of it. It takes you on a journey through the eyes of two sisters.

This book shows, bravery, love, hardships, loss and so much more. It fills you with emotion, makes you feel as if you know these girls and you know what they have gone through if their lives. Yet it makes you think... Could I get over all the secrets of the past, could I let go of the past?

I love books like this and look forward to reading more from this author and others in the future.

Highly recommend this books to all lovers of Historical Fiction and all lovers of a good read.

The Girl from Portofina by Siobhan Daiko is a beautifully written novel told from two timelines, one in 1970 when a woman and her daughter return to Liguria on the Amalfi Coast of Italy for the woman's father's funeral and the time during WWII when she lived and worked as a resistance fighter. This was a unique take on the war for me, I had never read a story based on the Italian resistance and what they had gone through. Using her sister's diary as a way to show what her sister had gone through during the war was a wonderful device to show that her sister had not lived the life of a traitor as she had always thought, but had worked a different way for the resistance to do her part. The relationships, the misunderstandings, the love and the beauty of Italy shine through in the stunning novel.

Thank you to the author, BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not for me. I'm sorry. I thought the dialogue was stiff and the writing was awkward. So, unfortunately, I could not finish this.

Brief synopsis from the book cover:


In 1970, Gina Bianchi returns to the beautiful Italian resort of Portofino to attend her father’s funeral, accompanied by her troubled twenty-four-year-old daughter, Hope.

There, Gina is beset by vivid memories of World War 2, a time when she fought with the partisans and her identical twin sister, Adele, worked for the Germans.

In her childhood bedroom, Gina reads Adele’s diary, left behind during the war. As Gina learns the shocking truth about her sister, she’s compelled to face the harsh realities of her own past.

Will she finally lay her demons to rest, or will they destroy her and the family she loves?

My rating:

Plot: 4 out of 5 stars
Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Character development: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for readers of:

Women’s Fiction
Historical Fiction

Review:

I like this book because it gives an interesting historical insight into WWII in Italy and the role of the partisans played in it. The book has strong well developed characters, their actions were well explained and the overall story was nicely written, the story flows well with the right amount of suspense, a bit romance mixed with some of historical facts which created a solid story line and kept it captivating till the end.

The Girl from Portofino is perhaps the fourth book that I have read, by Siobhan Daiko. The story focuses on WWII Nazi resistance in Portofino, Italy. The sections that focused on Adelle's life and acts of resistance were especially interesting. I also thought that Gina's life in 1970 was well done. This is not the first book that Daiko has written that focuses on the resistance movements in Italy. Because of have read her previous novel about this topic, Gina's experiences seemed more repetitious to me. However, I suspect that new readers would find them quite compelling, as did I in the first of these books. I had also figured out the central plot device early in the novel, and so when it was revealed later, I was not surprised. In spite of some reservations, I did enjoy reading this novel. I do appreciate that the author and publisher provided me with this ARC and want to thank them. And a big thank you to NetGalley for introducing me to so many new writers.

An interesting book about Italian resistance in WW2. It illustrates what the Italian people did to fight against the Nazi’s by telling the story of fictional freedom fighters as well as how the Italian fascists did to the populace.
#netgalley #siobhandaiko #thegirlfromportofino

Very good book. I learnt lots from it about the different fighting forces in Italy during the war.

I didn't warm to Hope as a character and not sure she needed to be such a bad lass with addiction problems. The story would have worked just as well as if she had simply been a daughter who was a bit lost in life.

Equally I didn't think the story about the roof at the restaurant/Gina's Mum's home was needed.

I didn't twig on until the final third of the book the connection between Enzo and Vinnie but it was nice that he and Gina had a happy ending after all they had been through.

All in all an enjoyable story which may educate others like me about Italian war history.

Good weaving of two eras together with a strong woman at the center🌅

For me, this was a good, sometimes moving, story that largely focuses on twin Italian sisters who end up making huge sacrifices in the latter years of WWII. Author Siobhan Daiko uses a diary recently discovered to link the two eras (1940's and 1970's) together. The technique worked, but the fact that Gina, the lead character, is present in both time periods and central to the action past and present added a lot to the historical story.

A good part of the action moves around the Ligurian countryside with the Italian partisan fighters. There's violence, some pretty graphic, but both sisters also find purpose and love in the midst of their resistance against the Nazis and the Italian Fascisti while awaiting the Allied victory and the end of hostilities.

I enjoyed the novel. This was the first time I've read any of Daiko's work. Although I've read better set in this era, I will be looking for more historical fiction by this author.

Thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

As soon as I saw the title of this book it had me hooked. Anything to do with the Amalfi Coast, Italy and it being set during the war was a invitation for a great weekend read.
The book is told through two lines 1970 and a WWII diary as it tells the story of identical twins Gina, who was a member of the Partisan resistance and Adele, who worked for the Germans and wrote the diary.
Gina has come home to Portofino with her daughter Hope to attend her father’s funeral and when she finds and reads her sister’s diary she is forced to confront her past.
Love the author’s previous book A Girl From Venice and this new title is another superb read. The author’s beautiful descriptions of Portofino took me back to trips I have made to Italy. Her ability to take you along with the characters adventures is a gifted authors trait. A truly riveting story of bravery, determination and survival.

I requested this book because I love Portofino and its surrounding region. However, the most impressive thing about this book was the way the author weaves history with family drama. This is a story of twin sisters who are young adults at the time of WWII. It shows us how the various political intricacies in Italy interacted--it wasn't just one side against a second. And there is a realistic sense of the human drama that occurred during this time period. The book divides its focus between the diary of one sister, uncovered decades after the war, as it is read by her sister who is recalling her own experiences in the war. I learned a lot about WWII in Italy from this book, which appears to be well-researched and based in fact. The characters seemed realistic and multi-faceted. I really enjoyed and recommend this book, and will seek out others by this author.

This book had unexpected content, which increased as the story progressed : if I had not committed to reviewing it, I would not have continued reading. By the time I reached the end, I truly wished I had not persisted - there was such gross violence, even with skimming I could not avoid the gist of it. Apart from that, I found the book a disappointment : whilst the premise for the plot had potential, it seemed to be trying to fulfil two different genres of writing at the same time - leaving it neither one thing nor the other. Even the characters of people then & now did not match up. I could not recommend this book, which is a pity as with pruning of unnecessary descriptions, as well as other judicious editing, it could have been so much better.

I was totally blown away by this book centred around the Italian resistance fighters during the second world war . The action moves between the war years and 1970 and it brought home to me how close those awful years are to recent memory . The author shows a deep knowledge and love for the Italian country and people and her depictions of Portofino are lovingly drawn. She has also done meticulous historical research and her writing is so raw and powerful I found myself totally emersed in the raw terror ,hardship ,loss and deprivations endured by those heroic fighters and the brave villagers who supported and sheltered them. Woven into the brilliantly crafted story is the tale of a family splintered by the war and reunited 25 years later . I love the use of a diary as a tool to interconnect the past and present. I can't wait to read more of this author's books. Totally enthralling

The girl from Portofino is the second in a series about girls during the second World War in Italy. Like with the first episode in this series, the girl from Venice, I've got mixed feelings about this book.
Although I loved the setting and found the plot interesting and surprising somehow most of the characters remained a bit "flat" and I didn't really get under the skin of the main characters.
I think this is for a large part due to the majority of the story being written in the third person, which kept me from really getting into the story. Of-course the part about Adele is written in first person because she tells her story to her diary, but the way Adele told her story to her diary annoyed me a bit at times, because it was so childish.

Nevertheless, I did like the storylines, which are actually three separate stories in one book, and how they came together at the end but in the last two years I've read books set in the same period, place and situation that were far more captivating, So 3 stars.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was such an enjoyable and evocative read. The writing was really good with well developed characters and a great storyline with vivid descriptions that transported the reader to Italy both during the 1970s andduring the second world war. It was a simply stunning read and I couldnt put it down.

As a fan of novels featuring the work of resistance fighters during WW2, this book had great appeal. The partisans in Italy was a new setting so it was interesting to learn of the warring factions in this country. Although set in two time zones, I found this a straightforward and relaxing read. The characters were endearing, as was the love that blossomed between them. Circumstances pulling together people that wouldn’t have met during peacetime there were no real surprises, or cliff-hangers, as the ending was predictable from an early stage. This is very much a story of how love plays such a big part in life .

My thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was a good story and had some depth to it. However, about halfway through I figured out what was going on and it made the rest of the book less enjoyable. There were also some plot lines and characters that started strong and didn't seem to go anywhere. For example, Gina's brother - I ultimately understand his purpose for being in the story, but at times the interactions made no sense. Others, I felt needed a conclusion, like the Baroness, that didn't get one. Overall, this is a good book, with some good surprises along the way.