The Sweet Hills of Florence
Описание книги
All Souls' Day – the Day of the Dead, 1941. Florence, city of strife. It is Hitler's state visit to Florence and the last of the good times for Mussolini. From now on, he and his lover Clara will cling more closely together, ever more dependent upon each other as their country spirals into civil war and their lives disintegrate.<br /> <br />Annabelle and Enrico, young cousins from an ancient Florentine family, work first with the clandestine resistance, then openly with the partisans. Facing life and death together in the mountains, they forge a passionate life-long bond.<br /> <br />How reliable is memory and can we ever expiate past sins? Are some ghosts better left alone?<br /> <br />'The Sweet Hills of Florence <i>is a sweeping novel spanning time and distance between Italy and Australia, between Mussolini's Italy and that of Berlusconi, between past and present. It is a rich tapestry woven with skilful insight, of the culture and the times. In digging beneath the patina of memory in a search for meaning, it opens doors to the past and raises uncomfortable questions for the present.'</i> – Sandy McCutcheon, author of <i>Black Widow</i><br /> <br />'I loved how this story brought the contrast of Australia and Italy to life. This is a book that digs deep, as Jan Wallace Dickinson explores the bonds that define us and shape our lives.' – Lisa Clifford, author of <i>The Promise</i>
Отрывок из книги
THE SWEET HILLS OF FLORENCE
Jan Wallace Dickinson has lived and worked in both Italy and Australia for more than twenty-five years. She has a wide range of commercial and academic experience at all levels, in both countries. Her particular interest is Italian literature and history, and she has worked as an editor, translator and bookseller.
.....
When Delia was born, he became Bert and renounced his Italian citizenship. He was naturalised. Neutralised, Delia called it as a child. She was reared mainly in English and she only spoke Italian on visits to Italy, or during her adored aunt Annabelle’s many visits. Once she was able to travel to Florence without her parents, Delia grew used to her Italian life with her aunt, between worlds, in the ancient building in Borgo Pinti with its five floors of relatives. Her father rarely used his apartment there, and she and her mother preferred to stay with Annabelle when they visited. After a time the room she used became her room, reserved from other guests. It seemed natural that she would gravitate to Florence for her university studies and even more natural that those studies would revolve around the families who had made Florence and her forbears. While their history stifled Bert, Delia carried it lightly, it not having been forced upon her.
Delia came to terms early with her mixed heritage. Tom and Frank always found their Italian name a bit of a worry, happy for it to be Australianised. Delia insisted on the correct pronunciation. She had romantic pretensions and enjoyed her exotic image. Albizzi was a mouthful, certainly, but Australia was full of stranger names than that in those days – Poles with waxed moustaches, Lithuanians with sad eyes, Estonians, whatever that meant, Serbs and Croats who carried knives, and lots of other Italians, but Italians much smaller and darker than any she had seen. Most of them were there to build the Snowy River dam. Most of them did not speak English. Many of the Italians did not speak Italian. Neither did Tom and Frank. For the boys, Albo was the obvious nickname and it stuck. Albo and Albi – boys’ schools were like that. St Catherine’s was not. Delia was Dellie only at home.
.....