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A Novel
by Mary Doria Russell
Book Reviewed by:Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, Russell's ambitious and engrossing novel tells the little known story of how Italian citizens saved more than 43,000 Jews during the last 20 months of WWII.
Set in Italy
during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in
seven years by the bestselling author of The Sparrow and Children of
God.
It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum is learning
Italian with a suitcase in her hand. She and her father are among the
thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they
hope to be safe at last, now that the Italians have broken with Germany and
made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy
is anything but peaceful, as it becomes overnight an open battleground among
the Nazis, the Allies, resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and ordinary
Italian civilians trying to survive.
Mary Doria Russell sets her first historical novel against this dramatic
background, tracing the lives of a handful of fascinating characters. Through
them, she tells the little-known but true story of the network of Italian
citizens who saved the lives of forty-three thousand Jews during the war's
final phase. The result of five years of meticulous research, A Thread of Grace
is an ambitious, engrossing novel of ideas, history, and marvelous
characters that will please Russell's many fans and earn her even more.
Russell introduces us to an expansive and richly drawn cast of characters in a book that is both epic and brilliant...continued
Full Review
(294 words)
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Mary Russell Doria says,
'the highest Jewish survival rate in Nazi-occupied
Europe was in Italy! We've spent 60 years trying
to understand what went wrong during the
Holocaust. I wanted to know what went right in
Italy.'
For skeptics who believe that she might have
idealized the courage and generosity of ordinary
Italians during the 1940s, Russell closes her
author's note with the following inscription
...
If you liked A Thread of Grace, try these:
by Derek B. Miller
Published 2025
From the Dagger Award–winning author of Norwegian by Night comes a vivid, thrilling, and moving World War II art-heist-adventure tale where enemies become heroes, allies become villains, and a child learns what it means to become an adult—for fans of All the Light We Cannot See.
by Dominic Smith
Published 2024
From the bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith's Return to Valetto tells of a nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II.
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
David Morrell, author of The Brotherhood of the Rose and First Blood
Fans of Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Children of God will be
thrilled by her masterful new novel. A Thread of Grace is a rich,
multi-layered narrative that offers fresh insight into a devastating time in
world affairs. A story of love and war, it speaks to the resilience and beauty
of the human spirit in the midst of unimaginable horror. It is,
unquestionably, a literary triumph.
