My thoughts
This is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story of the holocaust. Set in Italy and told through a young woman named Lili’s pov. She was so strong and resilient. Even when she thought she was weak she pressed on. Taking care of her best friend’s small son. She also found love and after the war made a life with Thomas in the USA.
This book made me laugh a few times. It also made me cringe and oh my but did I cry. It was not a good time in history for the Jews. They were persecuted so bad. Considered to be less then human.
In this story you meet Lili and Esti. Two best friends who's lives were forever changed by the war. By a Nazi. By Hitler and Mussolini. Two friends who went through some horrific times. When Esti is hurt she talks Lili into taking her young son and fleeing. Finding a safer place. While Lili doesn't want to leave Esti she finally concedes and starts on a long and dangerous journey. She goes through a lot of places and finds kind people along the way willing to help. She also finds some mean and evil people who wish harm on Jews.
Lili comes full circle eventually and finds her way home. Along the way her and Theo, Esti's young son, meet a lot of people. One being Thomas. He needs a place to hide and Lili helps him. They end up falling in love and Theo loves Thomas also.
It's sad what happened back then. No one should have to live in that kind of fear. In that kind of hate. Yet it seems we are almost doing it again right here in my country. It's scary that people seem to have learned nothing from the past....
Thank you #NetGalley, #PenguinGroup, #VikingPenguin, #PamelaDormanBooks, for this ARC.
About
From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones, an unforgettable story of hardship and hope, courage and resilience, that follows one young woman’s journey through war-torn Italy
1941, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an ‘inferior’ Jewish race, but life somehow goes on—until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory.
Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Underground. When disaster strikes at the convent, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: To go on the run with Theo. Protect him while Esti can’t.
Terrified to travel on her own, Lili sets out on an epic journey south toward Allied territory, through Nazi-occupied villages and bombed-out cities, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe.
A remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival, One Good Thing is a tender reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going.
1941, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an ‘inferior’ Jewish race, but life somehow goes on—until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory.
Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Underground. When disaster strikes at the convent, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: To go on the run with Theo. Protect him while Esti can’t.
Terrified to travel on her own, Lili sets out on an epic journey south toward Allied territory, through Nazi-occupied villages and bombed-out cities, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe.
A remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival, One Good Thing is a tender reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going.
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