*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. This review is being posted as part of the Daughters Of Tuscany blog tour hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.
Title: Daughters Of Tuscany
Author: Siobhan Daiko
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: ★★★★
Two women, one community, everyone’s war…
With the arrival of English prisoners of war on
Marchese Ginori’s farmhouse estate, Rosa is immediately wary. Her husband was
killed by the Allies and she will not trust any inglesi around her daughter.
The marchese’s daughter, Emma, is thankful for the
extra help. Especially when Italian soldiers are forced into hiding, fleeing
the Nazis. Emma vows to protect her childhood best friend, Marco, at any cost.
It’s a dangerous time to be harbouring fugitives,
and as the POWs prove their allegiance in helping the Italian men, Rosa begins
to become close to one in particular – an alluring Scotsman named Tom.
Both women will do
what it takes to protect their loved ones, but daring to hope for a better
future in wartime is a dangerous dream. And what starts as a quest to keep
their men safe soon turns into a mission to save their whole community…
Daughters of
Tuscany is the latest compelling novel from historical fiction author Siobhan
Daiko. Exploring themes of love, loss, community and hope, this captivating
story is set against the backdrop of the war-torn yet still beautiful valleys
of Tuscany and is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.
Siobhan Daiko is undoubtedly
one of the standout authors of World War Two fiction whose passion for Italy and
telling Italian wartime stories is evident in all of her books. It is actually reading
Siobhan’s books that has fuelled a real interest in the fascinating and complex
history of Italy in the Second World War for me and she is one of my
must-read historical fiction authors so I was very excited to be able to take
part in the blog tour for Daughters of Tuscany. I have previously reviewed two
of her previous novels here on Yours, Chloe - The Tuscan Orphan and The Girl
From Venice – and I will link them at the end of the post.
The tone of the
book did feel generally less hard-hitting than other novels we’ve seen from Siobhan
Daiko but this actually worked really well. It was brilliant to be able to
enjoy her compelling writing in a book which was an overall easier and more
light-hearted read, perfect for any time you would like a refreshing break from
reading harder-hitting novels, whilst still being able to have the historical theme
you’re seeking from this genre. This doesn’t by any means mean that Daughters
of Tuscany doesn’t feature some brilliant tension and exploration of darker
topics because it definitely does, but these are less frequent than you might
expect having read her previous novels.
On a similar
note, something I really liked about for Daughters of Tuscany was its focus on
how life just had to carry on for those living and working in these remote
parts of Italy, despite the war. Their responsibility to farm the land and produce
food for their wider communities continued despite the German occupation, their
land facing bombardments and seeing their sons, husbands and brothers risking
their lives to fight as part of partisan brigades, and this was
really well-portrayed. There was a brilliant sense of community in the book with
the different families and villages banding together to support one another during
the challenges of the German occupation.
Siobhan Daiko’s
captivating storytelling made the Tuscan valley setting truly come alive on the
page. I was fascinated reading about how they farmed the land and created the
produce Italy is known for, with the vivid descriptions of them making olive
oil particularly awakening all of my senses. As we’ve come to expect from Siobhan
Daiko, her incredible historical subject knowledge is evident throughout the
story which has clearly been meticulously researched as history just seeped
through the pages.
Something Siobhan Daiko
writes exceptionally well is strong female characters, and Emma and Rosa in Daughters
of Tuscany are certainly no exception. I liked the choice to write the
protagonists as two young women from different backgrounds – with Rosa coming
from a farming family who live and work on the estate owned by Emma’s wealthier
family – as it showed how the war affected different groups of people in Italy.
Emma was particularly courageous throughout the novel, volunteering to walk straight
into the lion’s den and engage with one of the German officers to try and protect
her community. Both women are able to find unexpected love and these stories
were beautifully written. I particularly loved Rosa and Tom’s story, as the
portrayal of Rosa gradually opening herself up to love again after the recent death
of her husband was particularly powerful and it was beautiful to see Tom gradually
became a father figure for Rosa’s daughter.
I potentially would
have liked to have seen rough dates included at the beginning of chapters to
help us as readers to be able to track the narrative against the timeline of
the war, particularly with the story being set around the Liberation of Italy by
the Allies, but that’s a minor detail to satisfy my inner history geek.
Overall, Daughters Of Tuscany is a captivating and easy read for fans of World War Two historical fiction. It has further cemented Siobhan Daiko's place as a real must-read author for me within the genre and I already have 'The Girl From Bologna' lined up as one of my next reads.
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