I am excited to be hosting the blog tour for The Girl from Bologna (Girls from the Italian Resistance) By Siobhan Daiko #HistoricalFiction #WomensFiction #WWII @siobhandaiko @maryanneyarde

The Girl from Bologna 

(Girls from the Italian Resistance)

By Siobhan Daiko

Bologna, Italy, 1944, and the streets are crawling with German soldiers. Nineteen-year-old Leila Venturi is shocked into joining the Resistance after her beloved best friend Rebecca, the daughter of a prominent Jewish businessman, is ruthlessly deported to a concentration camp.

In February 1981, exchange student Rhiannon Hughes arrives in Bologna to study at the university. There, she rents a room from Leila, who is now middle-aged and infirm. Leila’s nephew, Gianluca, offers to show Rhiannon around but Leila warns her off him.

Soon Rhiannon finds herself being drawn into a web of intrigue. What is Gianluca’s interest in a far-right group? And how is the nefarious head of this group connected to Leila? As dark secrets emerge from the past, Rhiannon is faced with a terrible choice. Will she take her courage into both hands and risk everything?

An evocative, compelling read, “The Girl from Bologna” is a story of love lost, daring exploits, and heart wrenching redemption.

If you read a book by an author and love it, you generally look out for their books in the future. If you’ve read two books, and are presented with an opportunity to read a third? I didn’t even have to think before I said yes, absolutely, I want to read this book.

After a terrorist attack brings back memories of the war, Leila Venturi decides to start recording her life story, or rather, what she did during the war. She has an exchange student, Rhiannon, living in her house, which provides her with some company, which is especially helpful after recording the more harrowing memories Leila has. But as Leila is reliving the past, aspects of the past impact Rhiannon, and while memories can bring pain, so can things happening in the present.

The majority of this novel is set in 1981, with Leila, Rhiannon, and Leila’s nephew, Gianluca. Gianluca and Rhiannon find themselves becoming good friends, as he shows her around Bologna, and they both end up amongst what is causing trouble in the present. Rhiannon has a classmate who Gianluca thinks is acting strange, and when they see her with a right-wing newspaper owner, confusion arises, especially when Marie finds out Gianluca is an investigative journalist, and suddenly doesn’t want to see him anymore. This book certainly has enough mystery to keep you reading!

Not too much of this book is actually set in 1944. We visit the past while Leila records her memories, but it almost seems like this is only a part of the story to provide backstory, and give you an insight into how you should feel about certain characters. I would’ve loved to spend more time with Leila in 1944, but I think the book was written in this way to show you Leila as Rhiannon sees her – you don’t get any information that Rhiannon doesn’t also get.

This is a really great book, and I loved reading it. There are certainly some twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting, and I was very invested in the whole Marie/right-wing newspaper owner/Gianluca situation. Overall, a gripping story, but I do wish the attention on 1944 and 1981 had a more even split.

The Girl from Bologna is available on #KindleUnlimited

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Siobhan Daiko

Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and a rescued cat. After a life of romance and adventure in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK, Siobhan now spends her time indulging her love of writing and enjoying her life near Venice.

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Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for giving me the opportunity to read this book.