Daughter of Genoa A novel

Devereaux (Escape to Tuscany) serves up a dramatic story of fascist resistance and a love triangle in 1944 Genoa. After Anna Pastorino's home is destroyed by an RAF bomb, Father Vittorio arranges to hide her in the home of a typographer and his wife, knowing that the fascist police would arrest and turn her over to the Germans if they find out she is Jewish and has been using false papers. The industrious Anna once worked as a bookkeeper for a prominent shipbuilder. Now, seeking to keep busy, she helps aviator Massimo Teglio create forged identity cards for the resistance. As they work together, Anna falls for Massimo, who remembers meeting her brother years earlier. Meanwhile, as Father Vittorio's tuberculosis symptoms worsen, he grapples with his attraction to Anna. The plot thickens when Vittorio learns Anna had been fired by the shipbuilder shortly before the war for being Jewish and her dismissal was linked to her husband's death. Devereaux sustains an acute sense of the danger faced by her characters, and she adds depth with their personal dilemmas, such as Vittorio's crisis of faith. Fans of WWII fiction won't want to miss this. Agent: Broo Doherty, DHH Literary. (Dec.)

Inspired by real events and the work of the Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants (DELASEM), a Genoa-based organization active between 1937 and 1947, Devereaux's (Escape to Florence) new novel deftly weaves imagination and history into a story of courage, danger, love, and loss. Anna is a young widow alone and in hiding in Fascist-controlled Italy. After her home is destroyed in an Allied bombing raid, she meets Father Vittorio, a Jesuit priest who takes her to a safe house above a printing shop. The shop's proprietors are part of DELASEM, and soon Anna joins the cause, drawing on her knack for forgery (though she conceals where she learned the skill) to help them produce fake identity cards that will allow Jewish Italians to escape the country. When she meets another operative, known as Mr. X (a character based on the aviator Massimo Teglio), her life changes, and she once again faces danger and unexpected personal loss. With its dramatic narrative, unforgettable characters, and breathtaking pace, Devereaux's book is one of the best works of World War II historical fiction published in recent years. VERDICT A powerful story rooted in history and peopled by memorable characters that will appeal to fans of World War II fiction.--Carolyn Mulac