The Italian Ballerina
A World War II Novel
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- 22,99 lei
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- 22,99 lei
Publisher Description
At the height of the Nazi occupation of Rome, an unlikely band of heroes comes together to save innocent lives in this breathtaking World War II novel based on real historical events.
Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy’s Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness sweeping through the quarantine wards—a fake disease known only as Syndrome K—she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Jewish Italians from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust. Soon a little girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina arrives at their door, and Julia is determined to reunite the young dancer with her family—if only she would reveal one crucial secret: her name.
Present Day. Delaney Coleman recently lost her grandfather—a beloved small-town doctor and World War II veteran, so she returns home to help her aging parents. When a mysterious Italian woman reaches out claiming to own one of the family’s precious heirlooms, Delaney is compelled to travel to Italy and uncover the truth of her grandfather’s hidden past. With the help of the woman’s skeptical but charming grandson, Delaney learns of a Roman hospital that saved hundreds of Jewish people during the war. Soon, everything Delaney thought she knew about her grandfather comes into question.
Based on true accounts of the invented Syndrome K sickness, The Italian Ballerina journeys from the Allied storming of the beaches at Salerno to the London ballet stage and the war-torn streets of World War II Rome, exploring the sometimes heart-wrenching choices we must make to find faith and forgiveness, and how saving a single life can impact countless others.
Split timeline: WWII and present dayStand-alone novelBook length: approximately 107,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This poignant WWII historical from Cambron (The Paris Dressmaker) follows a Jewish Italian girl and her American protector as they try to survive Mussolini's fall from power. In 1943 Rome, friars rescue Julia Bradbury, an English prima ballerina, after a random act of violence by Mussolini's followers. Meanwhile, American medics A.J. Nelson and Court Coleman get separated from their unit while in Rome. After Court sustains injuries while saving a Jewish girl from the Gestapo, all three seek refuge with the friars on Tiber Island. There they meet Julia and discover that the friars are hiding Jewish refugees under the pretense that they are ill with the invented "Syndrome K." In the present day, Delaney Coleman travels from Indiana to Tivoli, Italy, to return a suitcase found among her late grandfather's things. It belongs to Calla Santini, a former ballerina battling dementia, and Delaney teams up with Calla's grandson to decipher their grandparents' letters to each other and uncover the story behind the suitcase, in the process revealing the role divine providence played in steering their grandparents' lives. The convincingly rendered characters humanize the horrors of war, and the girl's insistence that God sent Court to save her testifies to the power of faith in dire times. Readers will want to keep some tissues handy.
