The Girl Who Escaped by Angela Petch. Review

Book Description

The Girl Who Escaped: Utterly heartbreaking and emotional WW2 historical fiction by Angela Petch

Italy, 1940. The girl sobs and rages as her father tells her the terrible news. “Italy is entering the war alongside Germany. Jews are to be arrested and sent to camps. We have to be ready.” As fascists march across the cobbled piazzas and past the towered buildings of her beloved home city, twenty-year-old Devora’s worst fears come true. Along with her Jewish parents and twin little brothers they are torn away from everything they love and sent to an internment camp huddled in the mountains. Her father promises this war will not last long… When they are offered a miraculous chance of escape by her childhood friend Luigi, who risks everything to smuggle vital information into the camp, the family clambers under barbed wire and races for the border. But Devora is forced to make a devastating choice between saving a stranger’s life and joining her parents. As shots fire in the moonless night, the family is separated. Haunted by the question of whether they are dead or alive, all Devora can do for their future is throw herself into helping Luigi in the Italian resistenza in the fight for liberty. But posing as a maid for a German commander to gather secret intelligence, Devora is sure she sees her friend one night, in a Nazi uniform… Is Devora in more danger than ever? And will her family ever be reunited – or will the war tear them apart? An absolutely devastating but ultimately uplifting historical novel about how love and hope can get us through the darkest times. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Rhys Bowen and Soraya M. Lane.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Girl From Escaped' by Angela Petch.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Angela Petch, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 14th April 2023.

This is the third book I have read by this author. I have also read 'The Tuscan House' and 'The Postcard From Italy' which I would also highly recommend.

I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching and colourful cover and its captivating synopsis. I also wanted to read something a bit different from the same genres I've been reading lately and this historical novel seemed to attract my attention. The synopsis stated that this book is 'An absolutely devastating but ultimately uplifting historical novel about how love and hope can get us through the darkest times. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Rhys Bowen and Soraya M. Lane.' I am a huge fan of both 'The Tattooist Of Auschwitz' and Soraya Lane so am looking forward to seeing if this book lives up to this statement. I am also a fan of Angela and if this as half as good as 'The Tuscan House' and 'The Postcard From Italy' it is guaranteed to be an excellent read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 50 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are medium to long in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in Italy 🇮🇹.

This book is written in third person perspective with the protagonists being Devora and Enrico. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.

Well done Angela you have done it yet again!!! Another absolutely stunningly written book that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions whose vivid descriptions completely arrested my attention. The cover and synopsis suited the storyline perfectly.

The storyline itself is captivating and heart warming but also devastatingly heart breaking. This story is based on a true story of the tragedies and hardships of Jewish families living in Urbino under the rules of the dreadful Mussolini. As always Angela's amazing narrative and evocative writing skills pulls the reader into the story and brings it to life around you making you feel, hear and see everything that is going on around the characters. She ensures you understand what the characters are going through and how awful these poor families were treated. It is extremely gripping and addictive story filled with tragedy, love, fascism, heartbreak, pain, war, love and so much more!! This book doesn't just tell us the tale of Devora who is an Italian Jew but also of her schoolfriend Luigi who is a clandestine partisan and possible collaborator Rico. As always Angela weaves all the storylines and events together perfectly ensuring a smooth and fast read which you are completely unable to put down. The fact that Angela has done her research absolutely shines throughout the book and at times my heart was in my throat and I had tears running down my eyes from what I was reading but it was worth carrying on as their stories deserve to be told and never forgotten. It is a pet hate of mine when an author doesn't do enough research on their chosen topics meaning their books are littered with unnecessary mistakes which spoil the storyline but congratulations Angela on the amount of research that hasn't just gone into this book but your previous books that I have also read. I must admit that out of the four books I have read by this amazing author this has got to be my favourite of them all!! Although there are more bad and sad times than good, which is realistic to what went on, there are happy moments which made me smile. This book is an eye opening read to went on in Italy during these awful times and how the Jews were treated there and as most of the books I have read on this subject are based in Germany I learned so much more that I did before which I am glad of so thank you Angela and thank you for ensuring their lives are never forgotten in your beautiful books. Angela also shows the importance of all standing and uniting together and the importance of solidarity in the face of adversity. The author emerges her readers into the storyline as well as the settings and actions and emotions of the characters. This book is fascinating and gloriously intriguing, a devastating, beautiful, heart-breaking, compelling and riveting page turner. It is perfect for fans of historical and WWll stories and of course any fans of Angela's previous books. I for one am looking forward to reading the previous and next books by this fantastic author.

DO NOT PICK THIS UP UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED YOUR SCHEDULES AS YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN!

Get ready to pack your suitcase and depart on a journey to history and Italy, you won't regret it or forget it!

The characters are absolutely fantastic as well as intriguing, unique and realistic. I loved discovering and delving into their history and background. I really connected with Devora and my heart absolutely broke and went out to her and her family. She is a strong and brave woman who has to grow up so quickly and sees so much tragedy and feels so much heart ache that I just wanted to wrap her up and keep her and her family safe. Devora is daring and willing to go into dangerous situations and faces many dilemmas through the book. I was on an absolute rollercoaster ride of emotions with her throughout. I have no idea what she seen in Enrico who enlisted in the army and seemed to be doing the opposite of what Devora believed in. I just really did not like him at all and I was shouting at Devora on a few occasions to run as far away from him as she could and my heart was pounding so hard at one point when I thought she was going to put him before her family. She deserved so much better than him when he obviously didn't feel for her as she felt for him. Luigi on the other hand I really liked and was rooting for him throughout the book. He is handsome, devoted and loyal and he was there for Devora and her family every single time. Luigi and Devora are so brave and I completely fell in love with these truly amazing people from the start. Regardless of whether you loved or hated the characters they each played their roles perfectly and the book jjuts would not be the same without them!

When you read this make sure you also read the letter from Angela. I always make sure u turn every page in a book and I absolutely loved reading Angela's letter and I was absolutely shocked by some of the information I read in it!!! One of the things Angela points out is the statistics which is as follows :

"At the end of September 1943, in occupied Italy, there were 38,994 Jews (33,452 Italian Jews and 5,542 foreign Jews). Approximately 80% of Jews in Italy survived. In the rest of occupied Europe, approximately 80% perished"

I was absolutely flabbergasted when I read this and it goes to show how different things turned out for the different regions going through this hell. In her note Angela also mentions Elizabeth Bettina's book 'It happened in Italy: Untold stories of how the people of Italy defied the horrors of the Holocaust' which I am definitely going to hunt down and read. This book really does show how brave and caring the Italians were and how different their outlook was during the war, how they helped each other and how different things could have been for others if they had done the same in different countries.

Congratulations Angela on another absolutely stunning book that I fell in love with. Here is to your next success 🥂!!

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the prologue and the first chapter of Angela's 'The Tuscan Secret' which promises to be as amazing and unputdownable as this and is one I'm looking forward to reading myself!

Overall a devastatingly beautiful, heart-breaking and memorable historical page turner.

Genres covered in this novel include Historical Fiction, Romance Novel, Historical Italian Fiction, Historical European Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction, War Story Fiction, Military Romance, Adventure Stories & Action, Jewish Historical Fiction, 20th Century Historical Romance, Literary Fiction, Historical Italian Fiction, Historical European Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction, War Story and Historical Romance amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris, Ellie Midwood, Rhys Bowen and Soraya M. Lane and fans of historical and WWII fiction and anyone looking for a beautiful, romantic yet devastating page turner which will shock and leave you thinking about the story for a long time .

404 pages.

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited and £9.99 in paperback (at time of review) via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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Author bio:

I’m an award winning writer of fiction – and the occasional poem.

Every summer I move to Tuscany for six months where my husband and I own a renovated watermill which we let out. When not exploring our unspoilt corner of the Apennines, I disappear to my writing desk at the top of our converted stable.

In my Italian handbag or hiking rucksack I always make sure to store notebook and pen to jot down ideas.

The winter months are spent in Sussex where most of our family live. When I’m not helping out with grandchildren, I catch up with writer friends.

Author social media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angela_maurice/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Angela_Petch

Website: https://angelapetchsblogsite.wordpress.com/?fbclid=IwAR3BvI72dioapF_Nf7Ad74ZhkTWvGBrqZcjq5NoGREVb24D7srv5ZmyDOcU

Purchase Link

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0BYC1V9NHsocial