Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Present day. Arriving in sun-drenched Caccipulia, Callie grips the faded restaurant menu in trembling hands. Found hidden in her family home, she is certain it will lead her to the truth about her grandmother’s life in Italy during World War Two. Why did her Nonna run away from this beautiful small town, never to return? Lost and alone in the world, could it help Callie understand who she is?
Local café owner Oliver’s dark brown eyes light up when he sees the menu. During the war, one brave family secretly fed desperate Jewish families hidden in safe houses through the village. Callie’s heart soars at the thought that her own dear grandmother was involved.
Diving into the town’s history during long walks down cobbled streets, Callie begins to feel at home under Oliver’s soft gaze. She wonders if she could build a life here with him. Until they push aside magenta flowers on a monument at the heart of the village, and uncover a secret that changes everything…
A grave mistake was made one dark night as the Nazis stalked the village, putting the whole town in terrible danger. When Callie finds out what her grandmother did, will it change the way Oliver feels about her? Will she stay and right the wrongs of the past, or be forced to leave Italy too, just like her Nonna?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Forgotten Italian Restaurant to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Forgotten Italian Restaurant is the conclusion to Barbara Josselsohn’s Sisters of War series. This can easily be read as a standalone story as tantalising titbits are dotted throughout as to what had happened in the previous books. So if you are new to this series you will not feel as if you have missed out but by the end you will want to go back and read Annalisa and Giuila’s stories. For the final book the youngest sister Emilia shares her story and things come full circle and everything is revealed.
I have really enjoyed this series which began with Secrets of the Italian Island where we met three sisters who have travelled to the small Italian island of Parissi in the hopes of finding a cure for their father’s illness. But in times of war no one is safe, and the sisters were forced to flee as the Germans arrived on the island. Emilia, aged only 15, went ahead back to their hometown of Caccipulia to tell their father that help was hopefully on the way. The plan was for her sisters to follow and then for the family to try and make it to America. The family are Jewish and with new laws being introduced and the Germans invading from the North they know that they are no longer safe in the beautiful village which they have called home for so long.
Throughout the book I totally forgot that Emilia was so young for the majority of the time she acted way beyond her years showing great strength, courage and fortitude but yet at other points throughout the story she was quite rash and immature. Emilia is in a waiting game for her sisters to arrive back and in the time that they have been away the situation and atmosphere in the village has changed. Unfortunately, she was too late to see her father who succumbed to his illness and now with their family home and her father’s tailor shop taken over by others she is left in a period of limbo. For she can’t forge ahead and go to America without her sisters by her side. The absence of a mother figure plays strongly on Emilia but here is where kindly neighbour Signora Jorelini and her daughter Corinna step in and offer Emilia shelter, support and sustenance while she waits. Knowing what happened in the previous books you view Emilia differently because you are aware that it’s not all plain sailing and that in fact she is being quite naïve but given she doesn’t know the full story I suppose she can’t be blamed for coming across this way.
I felt Emilia out of the three sisters was the least that I connected with. Annalisa and the first book will always have a place in my heart. I wanted to be able to reach into the book and tell Emilia everything and help her in some way but that was impossible and I had to restrain myself and see where her story would go. The book itself has a slow and meandering pace and perhaps a little more action with regards to Emilia’s side of the story would have been beneficial. She is tormented that life will no longer be the same for her family but at the same time she can’t sit by and do nothing. I thought she really stepped up to the plate when she discovers the resistance work that Signora Jorelini and Corinna engage in and it was brave of her to take part in this given she herself was Jewish. She placed herself in danger time and time again in order to help those suffering and in need and she really didn’t have to do this. It showed that she had a human and genuine side and this is highlighted even more when a tough decision needs to be made. One where love and connection are dominating but the results of which will cause heartache and misunderstanding for many decades into the future.As the Germans ever closer to the village will Emilia’s work have to stop? Will she herself become the focus of so much hatred? Will she ever be reunited with her sisters?
The story effortlessly moves back and forth between the past and the present as it has done so in the first two books. In the present day, Callie has just buried her sister Pam and no one would blame her for being a bit messed up. But there is more to Callie than meets the eye. She came across as being full of anguish and in a way bitterness. Alot of the time, especially early on in the book, I felt she as speaking in riddles. Alluding to things that perhaps the reader was meant to know about but didn’t. I found her to be quite frustrating in that she never directly came out and said what she was feeling. There was an undercurrent to her that I couldn’t quite put my finger on and I just sensed that there was something going on that she wasn’t ready to talk about and maybe she never would be. When something is revealed much later on then things made complete sense to me and my opinion of her changed. But the relationship she had with Pam was damaged as she always seemed to be running from her and the family home. What was the reason for this and how can Callie live with the regrets she has now lost that the opportunity to talk openly and whole heartedly with Pam is gone?
Callie is very much at a crossroads in her life and she is aimless with no clear sense of purpose or direction. The family history is revealed and as Pam brought her up following the death of her parents Callie feels she is all alone in the world. That she hadn’t the time to say sorry and make amends and heal what she viewed was a fractured relationship of her own making? How can she move on from this or will all the things left unsaid eat away at her? So what links Emilia and Callie’s stories? Callie discovers a box hidden away by Pam with a code to open it that only Callie would know. Inside are two plane tickets to Italy and reservations booked in a hotel to take partake in a cookery course. Said hotel is in Caccipulia. Why had Pam done this? Especially considering the precarious relationship that had existed between the sisters prior to Pam’s death and given the fact Pam hated to travel preferring to remain in the family home with her husband and young daughter. Callie is confused but also intrigued and given the family history surrounding her grandparents this only gives to more questions?
I was glad when Callie made the decision to travel to Italy and learn more about her family history for there were so many unanswered questions from that time that her grandparents had failed to answer as they refused to talk about how they came to live in America. As a reader all the clues were laid out and to be honest pretty much easy to follow but it was enjoyable to see Callie traverse in the footsteps in the past in order to try and bring about some resolution. She needed to do this in order to move on and to come to a realisation that she was being too hard and down on herself. One line towards the end of the book rung very true for life but also for all the characters in the book. It mentioned that people don’t think about suffering. They kept it to themselves and those who loved them ever know why and that is very much true for both Emilia and Callie. I felt Calle underwent a very much needed transformation in Italy. Yes, there may have been a little bit of subterfuge but it was needed and as the layers of the past are pulled back and things slowly start to make sense. You are rooting for Callie but also interested to see how the past and present will interconnect and if they do will it be successful or a disaster?
The Forgotten Italian Restaurant was an enjoyable read although not my favourite in the series. I just felt that it wasn’t as strong as the other two books but I wouldn’t have missed out on it because the story of the three sisters was fascinating and I was desperately hoping for that happy ever after ending. The epilogue was perfect and I loved how it brought everything full circle and that the series didn’t peter off without a solid conclusion. This was a story of forgiveness, acceptance, courage, secrets and of course some romance. An enjoyable read and an apt conclusion to the Sisters of War series.
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