Book Synopsis:
1945, Italy. Two sisters give birth to two little girls on the same night, huddled under blankets, deep in the black woods that surround the village of Bosconero. They hold their babies close as footsteps approach. If they make even the slightest sound, the German soldiers will find them…
1996. Luce Nardini searches the cobbled streets of a remote Italian village for a house with a faded blue door. Since her only child left home, and with her estranged husband more distant than ever, she’s been completely untethered. Discovering why her mother cut all contact with her family and the village she loved feels like Luce’s last hope at understanding who she is.
Inside the house, she’s relieved to find the grandmother she never knew living out her final days. With a longing look at an ornate wooden box on her nightstand, her grandmother is just beginning to tell the heart-wrenching story of a little village ravaged by war, and why Luce’s mother swore never to return, when then the unthinkable happens: an earth-shattering disaster that shakes the little village of Bosconero to its core.
Feeling more lost than ever before, Luce fears that the secrets of her past have been buried forever. Her only hope is to win back the trust of the small community and find her grandmother’s little wooden box amongst the rubble of the village.
But will the surprise arrival of the husband she thought she’d lost help sew Luce’s family back together, or tear it apart for good? And will anything have prepared her for the devastating betrayal she finds hidden inside the box…?
An unputdownable historical novel about the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love by the author of million-copy Amazon No 1. bestseller, Watch Over Me. Perfect for anyone who loves Fiona Valpy, Lily Graham or The Letter by Kathryn Hughes.
The Lost Village is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only £1.99. You can purchase your copy using the link below or through your local indie bookstore.
My Review:
I’m such a huge fan of this author and I always look forward to a new book from her as I know they will be a fantastic read.
The Lost Village is once again set in the author’s native Italy and I loved all the wonderful, vivid descriptions of the beautiful rural countryside. The community spirit and the Italian way of life was lovely to read about too. I’ve always wanted to visit Italy and this book has made me even more determined to do so as soon as possible!
The story goes between the present day and Italy in WW2. The present day follows Luce as she tries to learn more about her family history and the other follows her family through the war and the heartbreaking events that happened there. Unusually for me I actually preferred the present day part of the story. I think this was because I liked Luce so much as a character and I enjoyed following her as she gets to meet her family, especially her amazing Grandma.
The story is very compelling and I soon found myself drawn into the story. It unfolds at a good pace with lots of twists and surprises that kept me guessing. Just when I thought I had figured out which way the story was going, something happened and it went off in a completely new direction. I thought the ending was very surprising and not at all how I expected things to end.
Huge thanks to Sarah Hardy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
Daniela Sacerdoti is a phenomenon. Over one million copies of her novels have been sold in eBook, her debut novel Watch Over Me was the eighth bestselling Kindle book of all time in 2015 and she was also ranked as the eleventh top-selling Kindle author. Daniela writes beautiful, haunting and bestselling fiction for adults (the Glen Avich series), young adults (the Sarah Midnight trilogy) and children. Her novels have been translated in twelve languages. Daniela was born and raised in Italy. She studied Classics, then lived in Scotland for fourteen years, where she married and taught in a primary school. Daniela’s children’s book Really WeirdRemovals.Com was shortlisted for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards. She has also written for the BBC. Daniela, her husband and their two sons make their home in a tiny village in the Alps. To discover more about Daniela and her world, visit http://www.danielasacerdoti.com.
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Wonderful review Joanna. I am looking forward to reading this one, it sounds very enjoyable.
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