Il Mulino. An old crumbling mill, by a winding river, nestled in the Tuscan mountains. An empty home that holds memories of homemade pasta and Nonna’s stories by the fire, and later: the Nazi invasion, and a family torn apart by a heartbreaking betrayal.Anna is distraught when her beloved mother, Ines, passes away. She inherits a box of papers, handwritten in Italian and yellowed with age, and a … Italian and yellowed with age, and a tantalising promise that the truth about what happened during the war lies within.
The diaries lead Anna to the small village of Rofelle, where she slowly starts to heal as she explores sun-kissed olive groves, and pieces together her mother’s past: happy days spent herding sheep across Tuscan meadows cruelly interrupted when World War Two erupted and the Nazis arrived; fleeing her home to join the Resistenza; and risking everything to protect an injured British soldier who captured her heart. But Anna is no closer to learning the truth: what sent Ines running from her adored homeland?
When she meets an elderly Italian gentleman living in a deserted hamlet, who flinches at her mother’s name and refuses to speak English, Anna is sure he knows more about the devastating secret that tore apart her mother’s family. But in this small Tuscan community, some wartime secrets were never meant to be uncovered…
A stunning tale, inspired by true events, about how the tragic consequences of war can echo through generations, and how love can guide us through the darkest times. Fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and The Letter by Kathryn Hughes will be captivated.
Readers have fallen in love with The Tuscan Secret:
‘Wow!… The writing is magnificent… A story of love, lose, secrets and hope… I have truly fallen in love… A beautiful, touching story that I would recommend to everyone.’ Cooking the Books
‘An absolutely gripping story of world War II… You must read this book. You can hardly put it down.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘Wow what a story… could not put it down.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘Boy what an emotional read… I felt myself welling up and on the verge of tears… written superbly.’ The Ginger Book Geek
‘Exquisite writing… If you are a fan of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, you cannot miss this one… I highly recommend it.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘Angela Petch is astounding… a compelling story… an enthralling experience… Highly recommend this as a must-read.’ Giascribes
‘This beautifully woven story had me captivated from the start… I could not help but LOVE the descriptions of Tuscany, the countryside, the people and the food.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘This was a beautifully told tale… a perfect read… so wonderfully descriptive I could imagine myself there amongst the breathtaking scenery and tasting the delicious Italian food… exceptional.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘I was gripped… The author weaves a magical tale.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘A fabulous historical fiction story… wonderful… Angela Petch is now added to my favourite author list… The rich details of the story are captivating. A must read.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘Fantastic read… I loved this book…I would highly recommend.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘A wonderful story… I was completely captivated… quite heart-breaking.’ All Things Bookie
‘Excellent book!… will grab you and hold onto you long after you put it down.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘A captivating story… heart-breaking and compelling.’ Stardust Book Reviews
This book was previously published as Tuscan Roots.more
Beautiful and heartbreaking read about Tuscany during World War II.
Angela Petch’s The Tuscan Story is a dual time period story that exposes the horrors of World War II, its affects on the survivors, and hope for the future. I am writing this review with a few tears in my eyes from the story’s ending of putting the past of Anna’s mother to rest and the hope for Anna’s future.
Anna’s inheritance from her mother Ines was a hand written diary mostly in Italian, Anna travels to Italy to find someone to translate the diary and see the town where her mother was raised, Although some parts of the book were hard to read about the war and the affects on the survivors, there are wonderful passages of hope. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ines Santini leaves her daughter Anna a series of diaries and a sum of money in her will. Although she was not close to her mother, Anna feels compelled to travel to the mountains of Tuscany where her mother fell in love with her father Norman, an escaped POW.
Angela Petch takes the reader back in time to WW2, to relate Ines and Norman’s story, and the bravery shown by her family, who were active in the Italian resistance. The author describes the hardships the Tuscan people endured, as well as the awful atrocities that they suffered. Throughout it all their warmth shines through.
As she finally begins to understand the complexities of her parents marriage, will Anna find love with Francesco, who helped her translate her mother’s diaries or will she return to her married lover Will?
I learned a huge amount about WW2 that I had not encountered in the past, and I also enjoyed learning about Tuscan food and the herbs and plants used in cooking.
Highly recommended.
Interesting approach to retelling a war story. From future impact back to very dark times. Ultimately a celebration of love, family, food, wine.
Kept the reader fully engrossed till the end.. Well written.
I like books like this that put me in a different place and time and allow me to recognize situations different from mine. In addition, the story itself was fascinating.
The whole series is good. I like the historical information behind the story
First book I’ve read by this author. Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Good story. Held your interest
A bit predictable
I could not put this book down and didn’t want to eat or sleep, just READ. It is
a moving story and I loved the author’s method of writing interjecting the past
to tell the story of the present. Very, very well done! I didn’t want the story to end!
This book started out a bit stilted but once the author found her groove it was riveting and a page turner. I found that by the end of the book I was fully vested in the characters and the hardships they struggled through. It was very enlightening and brought to light the reality of the struggle the Italians endured during the war and she also did an exceptional job of describing the juxtaposition between life in Italy and life in England. She helped the reader understand how they are worlds apart in attitudes and social characteristics.
This book reminds us of a period in history when the people of Europe dealt with the horrors of war in a way that we Americans were not faced with in WWII. It also reminds us of the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity. It made me question whether I could have had the strength to deal with the conditions in which they survived. Very thought provoking!
Love Italy, WWII, and history – this book had it all. Really enjoyed it.
Loved this book.
Thoroughly entertaining.
I very much liked it! Interesting story and blend of current with past.
Wow, this is an incredibly amazing book.
The atrocities of World War 2, lots of hidden secrets, and a journey of discovery.
So well written and researched; I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
A beautiful, tragic story set in wartime Italy and the present day. When Anna’s mother dies, she leaves her daughter a set of diaries she wrote when she was younger, with precious details of her life. Anna decides to go to Tuscany to retrace her mother’s footsteps and find out more.
The author leads us along shaded mountain paths, past abandoned villages decimated by German retaliation, lets us paddle in a cool, refreshing stream that can turn into a raging torrent in the blink of an eye, shelters with us in a decrepit old barn, until we finally reach the old mulino where Anna’s mother grew up. Each detail is breathtakingly described, with every scene you are drawn further back into the past and the lives of the people who lived at that time.
The two stories, both Anna’s and Ines’, are slowly revealed, peeling away layers until the bare core remains. There are tears, tragedy, and heartfelt moments that keep you enthralled right to the end. Highly recommend.
When Anna’s mother dies she is left a pile of dusty diaries. It seems a shabby bequest compared to the house which her brother inherits, or the jewellery which is her sister’s legacy. But those diaries are going to endow Anna with all kinds of unforeseen riches as she travels to Tuscany to find out the truth about her parents’ wartime romance.
There is nothing like a bundle of old letters, a secret diary or a dusty old manuscript to get the imaginative juices flowing and this one certainly does not disappoint. It’s a riveting story and all the more interesting for being, I suspect, not that unusual after WW2, when war proved a catalyst for romance between people of different nationalities. In those cases, as here, the difficulties of melding languages and cultures, of one partner having to leave behind everything familiar to begin a new life in a strange land make for heart-rending human interest stories.
Tuscan Roots is told in two time-frames. 1999 sees Anna travel to her mother’s birthplace in the beautiful Tuscan mountains where, with the help of the local community she is able to translate and piece together the storyline of her parents’ courtship. The people she meets and the places she visits are vividly described – landscape colour and local kindness both make the setting powerfully attractive. This portion of the narrative is related in the present tense, which makes it immediate, as though the story is unfurling as we read, but this is not an easy thing to pull off.
Interleaved with Anna’s story are flashbacks to her mother’s diaries and also to some of her father’s wartime journal. The writer handles these changes in point of view very deftly and we get a very clear idea of the different characters. I especially enjoyed the more mature writings of Ines as she had to come to terms with the effect the war has had on her husband and the hard graft of marriage when the first flush of romance has died.
As you would expect, the denouement of both tales is the point when the past hits the present, and this came off brilliantly. What’s more, I happen to know there is a future, as I have read the sequel, ‘Now and Then in Tuscany’, also highly recommended.