Reviewed by Emma Crowley
A promise keeps them apart until WWII threatens to destroy their love forever
Fonzaso, Italy, between two wars
Nina Argenta doesn’t want the traditional life of a rural Italian woman. The daughter of a strong-willed midwife, she is determined to define her own destiny. But when her brother emigrates to America, she promises her mother to never leave.
When childhood friend Pietro Pante briefly returns to their mountain town, passion between them ignites while Mussolini forces political tensions to rise. Just as their romance deepens, Pietro must leave again for work in the coal mines of America. Nina is torn between joining him and her commitment to Italy and her mother.
As Mussolini’s fascists throw the country into chaos and Hitler’s Nazis terrorise their town, each day becomes a struggle to survive greater atrocities. A future with Pietro seems impossible when they lose contact and Nina’s dreams of a life together are threatened by Nazi occupation and an enemy she must face alone…
Under the Light of an Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton, although historical fiction, is based on a true story of the author’s family in Italy. It begins in 1914 and takes us all the way up to past the war years and ends in the modern day. It’s a different read from the stories I have read previously set during the war years. I really felt it read as if it was a biography of sorts of a family. I felt like I was getting a glimpse into the Argenta family and how two wars affected how they lived in Italy. What changes occurred? How they coped with the turbulent landscape they found themselves existing and how the main character Nina navigates her life through childhood right through to marriage a beyond.
I found the story to be engrossing and it flowed well. I began it expecting some mystery, secrets and lots of twists and turns but instead I soon came to realise this was more of an account of a specific families life and that the pace would be relaxed. So much so you do become totally lost in everything going on and you develop a deep affinity with Nina. We get a detailed insight into how a family stick together against all the odds when death, destruction and horror came in waves against them.
Nina is only 10 when we first meet her. She is raised in the village of Fonzaso, the descriptions of which appear idyllic but life is tough in the mountains of Italy and families struggle and see many of their loved ones emigrate to America in search of work. This is a strong recurring theme throughout the book, one of families torn apart by war when it arrives but also through close family members leaving to travel far away to an unknown country. Those left behind wonder will they ever see their loved ones again and question whether such separations are worth it. For Nina, she is tied to the village where her mother Adelasia is midwife and her father Corrado works at the saw mill. She is raised a Catholic and family bonds are strong. Adelasia has a reputation for being stern but as the story develops you see she is a woman of great strength and fortitude who does so much for everyone else. A woman who was ahead of her time and always stood up for what she knew to be just and true in the face of the baby making machines Mussolini viewed women to be.
As the years pass and we see how Nina grows and adapts to the changes around her, a promise made to her mother that she will never leave tests her time and time again. Nina wants to matter to the world. She wants to be in control of her own destiny yet she feels tied by the promise she has made to her mother. When she meets and subsequently marries Pietro, one would think she would be free to go to America with him but Nina understands duty and loyalty, trying though it may be. She can’t abandon her family and a promise is a promise after all.
World War One and the Spanish flu change, alter and shape Nina. Gone is the innocence of youth and now she is a married woman. I honestly thought Nina was so selfless in that she didn’t want to break her mother’s heart and leave with Pietro when he returns to America to continue working. Such a sacrifice she makes and it’s a decision that will have such far reaching and long lasting consequences. The power of family and unity is strong but Nina will be severely tested and see her faith waver.
Nina really goes through the mill throughout this book. She is surrounded by family, although two other siblings have gone to America yet plenty remain. Yet at the same time Pietro, whom she loves so deeply is not by her side. How can a marriage sustain itself whilst separated by so many miles across an ocean especially when Nina goes through the worst that can befall a woman? I think she felt that Pietro could move on without her whilst life in the town would just remain the same fuelled by traditions and long held expectations. Time and time again, you get the feeling that Nina is caged and the awful event that befalls her just seems to drag her down before she can find the strength to rise back up again. She follows in her mother’s footsteps and trains as a midwife but as Pietro is not by her side she feels her life is motionless and comparing herself to her sister who left well she just feels inadequate by doing so.
The rise of Mussolini, the power the church holds and the bonds of families are all strong themes through out the book and these are shown particularly in relation to how women were expected to live and work at the time. Part two of the book focuses on World War Two and the reader sees a new Nina emerging and there is also a focus on her two young daughters. One man’s search for power will see lives changed forever for so many and Nina’s willpower and beliefs are tested time and time again although Nina knows she must stand up for what is right and true no matter the consequences. Her love and relationship is tested through the barriers created by war and beyond this time. Yet all the time your admiration for this character grows and grows and it’s like you are walking their beside her threading the same path. Not knowing the eventual outcome but struggling on none the less.
Faith, fortitude, courage, resilience and the power of love all shine through as important messages making this a book I would definitely recommend. There is so much to be taken from it and as the way the story is written it’s so easy to follow and you become engrossed in with Nina a character that will not leave your mind very easily once you have reached the final word.
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