... so Compelling!

The Garden of Angels by David Hewson     

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Really, I had trouble finding words to suit. A mesmerising read. Set in Venice, partly during 1943 and the Nazi occupation and partly from the late 90’s on. Containing underlying commentary on the fierce independent character of the Venetian people, a look at those who chose to survive alongside the Nazis and those who chose to fight, the ordinary people, the Fascists (the Black Brigade), the Mussolini National Guard, and the Resistance fighters. We switch between a young weaver, Paolo Uccello, whose parents have been killed in an air raid, who agrees to aid two Jewish Resistance Fighters on the run. Then we come into the 90’s when it seems Venetians want to forget the past and the cost.  A story in six amazing parts. A story that dwells in the unromantic aspects of Venice.

In the beginning I’d wondered if I’d finish. Less than a chapter in I was hooked and stormed my way through the rest.

What a tale it is, switching between the Venice of the past and into the recent present of 1999, where a young fifteen year old boy, Nico Uccello is in trouble at school. He’s been hanging out with a bad crowd. Their last action has had him suspended, for bullying a Jewish boy.

His dying grandfather, Nonno Paolo, asks him to read a series of papers in five envelopes, one envelope at a time. A family history. Envelopes that he must read in order. If he wants to continue them he must return each missive before going on to the next.

The contents are his grandfather’s memories of Venice under the boot of the Nazis and the Fascists.

Nico is both is shocked and arrested by the story that unfolds. A story that’s fast being forgotten in the Venice of today.

Nico’s Nonno explains to him, ‘There’s a reason I write about these things, not speak of them. You’ll come to appreciate it, I hope. These were unreal times and both of us lived quite unreal lives. Don’t judge me … don’t judge us by how things stand today.’

The letters and their contents deeply effect Nico, a story he runs from for many years—his world turned on its ear. Just as my understandings were in the final realizations.

Exceptional reading!

A Severn House (Canongate Books) ARC via NetGalley 

Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change