I was recommended The Italian Bookshop Among the Vines by Amanda Weinberg, given it is set in Italy in World War Two, one of the locations I am writing about in my novel. I read it as its original title ‘The Tears of Monterini’, which I have to say I prefer, along with the original cover art, but then publishers are the experts here and it was clearly a rebrand worth doing!

This is a lovely book. The setting of a village surrounded by olive groves and vineyards oozes from every page, as two families live out their lives, starting from the day that both wives are giving birth. Only one of them survives and as the two babies, Bella and Rico, grow into children and then adults their lives are destined to be intertwined.

A mysterious figure, Tanaquilla, appears to Bella whenever she is in danger, but when she broaches it with her father he makes her promise not to speak of it, and the secret he shares with his daughter comes between them as another fissure, building on the death of Bella’s mothers that her father never recovers from.

Crucially, Rico’s family is Catholic and Bella’s is Jewish. The village is close and comes together to protect its Jewish families as Fascism takes hold in Italy, but eventually even they cannot prevent the Nazis arriving, forcing Bella’s family into hiding.

This is a gripping read and one I’d recommend to anyone interested in the lesser-told stories of the Second World War.