Compelling!

Every Time We Say Goodbye (Jane Austen Society #3) by Natalie Jenner        

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Jenner continues exploring the lives of various of characters we’ve met in the “Austen Society” and “Bloomsbury Girls.” This time the action is mostly set in post World War II Rome. Vivien Lowrey is a playwright. Through her works she tries to capture the truth of things. Having been savaged by theatre critics for her latest production she comes to Rome to work as a script doctor for “When All Else Fails” a Douglas Curtis film being produced in Italy.

Joseph McCarthy has started his witch hunts for communist and socialists in the film industry and many have fled here. Mussolini had built a huge studio complex in Rome specifically for propaganda. Now, in 1955, Cinecittà Studios is being well used by the Italian and other film makers, including the Americans.

Vivien catches up with others of the Austen and Bloomsbury women who flit in and out of the story, including  Peggy Guggenheim.

The names! I’m starry eyed! Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anna Magnani, Orson Wells, Eartha Kitt!

The story is complex. Layers upon layers build up a picture of Vivian and those around her. Vivien had been engaged to David St. Vincent, heir to an earldom. David had been captured in North Africa, then sent to Italy, escaped and then disappeared. Vivian had always believed he was dead. When she finds out he’d lived, she has hope. That’s part of her reason for coming to Italy.

In Rome she learns the story of many in the Italian underground, particularly the women. One was La Scolaretta, girlfriend of underground leader Prince Nino Tremonti, now filmmaker. La Scolaretta became an assassin. She was helped by an Italian nun, Sister Justina. Their reasons for helping are different, but their bravery and resistance is awe inspiring. 

A film is to be made about Scolaretta. The Vatican shuts it down!

The Vatican comes under fire. Where were they during the time when the country was occupied by the Nazis. Did they seek to hold onto power at any cost?

Meanwhile the search for news of David and for others comes to the fore for Vivien. During her search Vivien faces facts about her own life. 

As she and her friend Gabriella Giacometti discuss when Claudia (a reporter for Life Magazine) moves onto a new life, “Our secrets are who we really are.”

A deeply moving story of loss and gain, of power abused, and of a time in history that has stained generations.

A St. Martins Press ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.

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