– naïvety certainly, and an almost childlike optimism – but I believe she was no traitor.
Many of the events in this novel were taken from her memoir: Il Gioco della Verità. Published in 1995, this was Maria’s attempt to set the record straight about her desire to save the life of her friend Luchino Visconti, through a ‘relationship’ with Koch.
There is just one important part of Isabella’s story that is not true – and not based on the ‘real’ Maria’s life in any way – and that was Isabella’s betrayal of Livia. This was, however, based on another true story – something that happened to a young woman in Florence, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in 2019. At the age of ninety-nine, she could still recall her wartime experiences. Falsely accused of being in the Resistance by the jealous mistress of an aristocratic acquaintance, she was denounced to the Fascist police, as a result of which she had to report to Villa Triste each day, and work for them as an interpreter. This struck me as such an extraordinary experience and I was keen to reflect it in my novel.
Livia’s storyline was also inspired by a remarkable Resistance staffetta named Gilda, who helped to run Radio Cora. Nearly blinded during an interrogation by Mario Carità in Florence, and subsequently imprisoned in a camp in northern Italy, this novel uses details of her escape and subsequent adventures.
As a novelist it is my job to ‘imagine’ the feelings and conversations of my characters. In this novel, many of the episodes which triggered those feelings are true. I am indebted to the women of Italy who fought fascism during World War Two with such bravery and selflessness. Who coped daily with the confusion of living in a country both at war with itself and its oppressors. May we never forget them.
Cast of Characters
The main characters in this novel are fictional, but their stories intersect with real individuals who are highlighted here in italics.
Isabella’s story:
Isabella Bellucci – film actress
Giovanna – Isabella’s mother
Ariana – Isabella’s aunt
Maria – her personal assistant
Ludovico Albani – Isabella’s first boyfriend
Peter – the man she eventually marries
Stefano – her ‘tennis pro’ friend
Count Vicenzo Lucchese – film director
Count Vittorio Lucchese – Vicenzo’s father
Contessa Alessandra Lucchese – Vicenzo’s mother
Luciana Torelli – Vicenzo’s sister
Carlo Torelli – Luciana’s husband
Raffaele – Vicenzo’s brother
Amadeo – Vicenzo’s cousin
Anna – Vicenzo’s assistant
Karl Wolff – Head of the German SS in Italy
Herbert Kappler – Head of the Gestapo in Rome
Pietro Koch – Head of a special Fascist Police unit in Rome
Commissario Guarnotta – of the Fascist Police in Rome
Pietro Mocci – Resistance member, killed in the Ardeatine massacre
Salvato Cappelli – journalist and Resistance member
Gianni Cini and his father Vittorio Cini – Cabinet Minister, 1943
Mario Chiari – film designer
Count Galeazzo Ciano – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mussolini’s son-in-law
Arturo Orvieto – Isabella’s defence lawyer
Alessandro Pavolini – a minister in all of Mussolini’s cabinets
Eitel Monaco – Director of Cinema at Cinecittà
Doris Durante – actress
Elsa di Giorgi – actress
Alida Valli – actress
Elsa Merlini – actress
Massimo Girotti – actor
Clara Calamai – actress
Princess Matilda of Savoy – aristocrat
Livia’s story:
Livia Moretti – young Florentine student and staffetta
Giacomo Moretti – her father
Luisa Moretti – her mother
Alberto Moretti – her grandfather
Angela – the housekeeper
Gino – the gardener
Elena Lombardi – her best friend
Benedetta Lombardi – Elena’s mother
Cosimo de Luca – her boyfriend and fellow Resistance member
Sara, Jacob and Matteo – the Jewish family sheltered by the Morettis
Valentina – her friend in Verona
Pietro and Sergio – Resistance members
Mario Carità – Head of the Fascist Police in Florence
The Photograph
If you loved The Letter by Kathryn Hughes and The Hourglass by Tracy Rees you’ll be swept away by this stunning summer read.
Italy, 1958: Rachael is a young widow with a small child. After a lifetime of running for survival, of not knowing who to trust and where to call home, she finds herself in a place of safety. On a sun-drenched Italian island for one carefree summer the troubles of her past fade away and she falls in love. But will Rachael’s new-found happiness bring her further heartache?
England, 2017: Sophie has a handsome husband, a gorgeous house in the English countryside and a successful career as an anthropologist. But the one thing she longs for is a baby of her own. As she struggles to conceive, cracks begin to appear in her marriage. So Sophie throws herself into her work and tries to seek comfort in childhood memories of her beloved grandmother Rachael.
One afternoon, Sophie finds a forgotten letter and