Nazi-occupied Rome sets the stage for Bridge of Sighs and Dreams, where the lives of two women collide in an arena of deception, greed, and sacrifice.Following an allied attack, Angelina Rosini flees to Rome from her bombed-out village and a ruthless Nazi officer bent on revenge. In Rome, the spirited portrait artist channels her creativity into the art of survival for herself and her young … young daughter. Unwilling to merely endure, and armed with ingenuity, wit, and unyielding optimism, she enters the shadow world of the Resistance where she zigzags through a labyrinth of compassionate allies and cunning spies.
Meanwhile, Lidia Corsini, Angelina’s sister-in-law, quenches her lust for power and wealth by turning in Jews to the ruthless Nazi Police attaché with whom she has formed an alliance. Her spiral into immorality accelerates as swiftly as the Jewish population dwindles, and soon neither her husband nor her son is immune to her madness.
Once Angelina discovers the consequences of Lidia’s greed, she conspires to put an end to the treacheries; but in doing so, she becomes the target of Lidia’s most sinister plot.
Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is a story of betrayal, dignity, and purpose that highlights the brutality toward Italian citizens, under both Mussolini’s Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation, and illustrates the tenacity of the human spirit.
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An interesting perspective of WWII Italy.
My favorite book of 2019
What a wonderful and emotion-provoking story!
Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is everything that readers who enjoy historical fiction, romance, and suspense could ever want in a book! The author tells the story that is captivating to say the very least. The main character, Angelina Rossini, is engaging and empowering as she deals with the brutal and unimaginable circumstances during war-torn Italy under Nazi occupation and the people she loves. Pietro, her husband was enlisted in the Italian army only to end up in a POW camp after Italy got out of the war on the side of Germany. The choices that these two make while apart have a way of breaking your heart and renewing your faith in love all at the same time. Parts of this book are violent and not easy to stomach yet the book manages to be beautiful and filled with hope and strength. The details and characters are vividly drawn, the story moves at a pace that will keep your heart racing, and the story itself is mesmerizing. I absolutely recommend this book to the readers who enjoy historical fiction and romance, and strong female characters at that.
What a bittersweet story. It shows the depths people will go to during a crisis situation: in this case, a war. Some cower in fear, others feed their greed, while the true heroes face calamities and strive to make the world (even if their own little corner of the world) a better place. I enjoyed learning about the bridge of sighs from a historical perspective. The characters and story will remain with you long after you’ve read the final page.
Bridge of Sighs and Dreams
Pamela Allegretto
Booklocker.com.Inc, Sep 2015
458 pages
WWII Historical Fiction
Purchased for Kindle app
The cover is perfect. Not only is it the title of the book, but it is the talisman they all hold throughout, the hope they hold onto through all the trials and horrors of the war. Through everything, they hold tightly to the dream of going to Venice to see the Bridge of Sighs.
The story focuses on two women, Lidia and Angelina. They are part of the same family, but they are fighting for different things and they end up fighting against each other just to survive.
The story takes place in Rome at the time of the German occupation. Lidia is married to Aldo, who is a very good portrait artist. They have a son Carmine, who is very well behaved and starts out as a “mama’s boy”. Lidia is a snob and wants power. She gets German officers to come to get their portraits done by her husband. She’s getting rich off the war. In more than one way.
Angelina is an artist and so is her husband, Pietro, Lidia’s brother. Lidia disapproves of Angelina. Angelina and Pietro have a daughter. Pietro ends up a prisoner of war. And Angelina and her daughter flee their ravaged village and end up in Rome living in a storefront working with the Italian resistance. All the while Lidia lives high on her hoarded gold and francs. Her husband is secretly gathering info from his portrait subjects for the resistance, and even her young son can’t stomach what his mother has become. He sees what she’s doing and he hears what goes on. He knows where she hoards her gold, too.
When the Germans and these people have done just about all that people can do to each other and the allies have liberated Rome, then the final showdown happens and no one is prepared for who does what when it does. This book is one you will need a box of tissues to get through. It will surely draw tears from you as man’s inhumanity to man in this war was about as bad as it can get and the author doesn’t spare us much of it. Especially since this is a family that is supposed to love each other and take care of each other. The characters were drawn finely with sharp pencils, not sparing them anything. Totally revealing of all their bad habits and character flaws. The history of the times is accurate and horrific. I highly recommend this book to anyone who reads wartime historical novels. This is the best.
Fans of the historical fiction genre will definitely enjoy this novel set in pre-war and WWII Italy. It’s a complex tale with many fascinating characters, some of which you’ll come to love and some, despise and, perhaps, pity.
Angelina, the main protagonist, made me root for her from the opening dramatic scene due to her resilience and strong, anti-fascist stance. She made it clear to everyone around – and to her sister-in-law, Lidia, most of all that Lidia’s “highly regarded” fascists will never threaten her into submission. However, as the war started, the simple opposition of views that is natural to many families, turned into outright local “war” between the two women, with Angelina taking the side of the Resistance and Lidia – worming her way into the highest hierarchy of Mussolini’s regime.
It’s a story in which the strength of the spirit battles personal greed and hunger for power; where nothing is black and white and help can come from the most unexpected source (I’m sure, as soon as you get to his part, you’ll grow to love and respect Karl just as much as I did) and where hope will never die, even when seemingly everything is lost.
Thoroughly researched and breathtaking, “Bridge of Sighs and Dreams” is undoubtedly a five-star read. Highly recommended to all fans of the genre.
A brilliant and emotional story of Italy during World War 2.
It tells of the atrocities of war, love and loss, greed, betrayal and deceit.
A real page-turner from beginning to end.
A Book Bridging the Disparities of War
This heart wrenching story unfolds in Nazi-occupied Rome during World War II, a backdrop for traitors and spies from many sides: Fascists, Communists, the Resistance, Jews, Nazis, and the Vatican. These disparities hone a fast-paced, engaging story with unforeseen plot twists and turns, fully-fleshed characters, witty dialogue, and artistic snapshots of war—“It appeared to her as though a giant hand picked up the entire town and ground it up in its fist.”
The author deftly paints a vivid and realistic picture of war-torn Italy through the bold brushstrokes of her characters—notably, protagonist Angelina Rosini, a talented portrait painter. In fact, life imitates art when one of the characters comments in reference to a cloak and dagger scenario, “…a painting comes to life after you add the shadows. The placement of shadows is critical…you must find your shadows and put them in their proper place.”
Accuracy is reflected in this historical fiction through the book’s title which delineates the bridge between hope and despair elicited from the ravages of war. The characters themselves represent the disparities of human nature exploited by war for survival: good and evil; loyalty and betrayal; greed and self-sacrifice; honesty and deceit; love and hatred…
I highly recommend this well-written page turner and nail biter that doesn’t mince words or spare the truth by selling the reader short with saccharine sentimentality.