*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.
Title: The Girl From Venice
Author: Siobhan Daiko
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: ★★★★★
Lidia joins the partisans
in the Venetian mountains, where she meets David, an English soldier fighting
for the same cause. As she grows closer to him, harsh German reprisals and
Lidia’s own ardent patriotic activities threaten to tear them apart.
Intrigued by her grandmother’s refusal to talk about her life in Italy before and during the war, Charlotte travels to Venice in search of her roots. There, she learns not only the devastating truth about her grandmother’s past, but also some surprising truths about herself.
The Girl From Venice is the latest captivating work from
historical fiction author Siobhan Daiko and the first in her ‘Girls from
the Italian Resistance’ series. From the second I read the synopsis I
was hooked and the story itself only exceeded my expectations. Siobhan Daiko’s
knowledge of the subject matter is evidently incredible and the story is
clearly meticulously researched as history just seeped through the pages. This
has created an emotive and utterly gripping story of the Italian partisans operating
around Venice and I devoured the book in a single sitting.
The story is told through a split narrative, flitting between
Lidia’s story during the war and her granddaughter Charlotte’s story in 2010,
and the two narratives work beautifully together in progressing the story. Both
Lidia and Charlotte are wonderful protagonists with such depth to their
characters and I was in absolute awe of the strength and courage Lidia demonstrated
throughout the story.
I also really enjoyed the romances we see blossoming in both
time periods and Siobhan Daiko absolutely nailed the way she sprinkled sensual
and sexy moments amongst the emotional and at times hard-hitting scenes in the
rest of the book. It would have been easy for the more sensual scenes to be
used as merely light-relief from the darker aspects of the plot but Siobhan
Daiko made them so much more than that and they were so important in the character
development we saw in both Lidia and Charlotte.
As I take my responsibility for highlighting potentially
triggering content within the books I am reviewing very seriously, I do want to
take a moment to discuss some content warnings for The Girl From Venice. This will
involve giving some spoilers but I do think it’s important to give warning of
the feature of these particular topics so that readers can make an informed
decision about whether or not they should read the book. In the 24th
chapter there is a description of a gang rape and torture scene which is pretty
hard-hitting and the chapter closes with the description of a miscarriage. The
chapters following this through to the end of the story feature occasional
references to the rape, including descriptions of nightmares the character has which
force her to relive her assault. Whilst this is potentially triggering content
for some readers, I do think Siobhan Daiko features these events and the
character’s gradual recovery from them in a really powerful way.
My only criticism is that I would have liked to have seen Lidia’s
chapters marked with the date and month they were taking place in alongside the
year to allow the reader to follow the progression of the war but that is a
minor detail.
Overall, The Girl From Venice is a really powerful piece of historical fiction and has been one of my standout historical fiction books of 2023 so far. It is a truly enchanting story which is going to really stay with me and has encouraged me to read further about Italian experiences of the war, particularly around the work of the partisans.
The Girl From Venice can be purchased here.
This review was published as part of a Blog Tour for The Girl From Venice, hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.
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