'An Italian Girl In Brooklyn' is a book of two halves for me. Initially, the plot is very slow and it takes a while for anything to happen. This is not necessarily a problem but it also took me a while to connect to the characters and I was left feeling is this it.
However, Montefiore changes everything with the latter half. Suddenly I was gripped, in love with the characters and feeling all their emotions with them. Then there is the twist which although I saw coming I was still left speechless and unsure how Montefiore would resolve things.
Stick with this book, it is completely worth it and you will soon find yourself immersed and in love with the book and its characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for an advance copy.

An Italian Girl in Brooklyn Santa Montefiore


5 stars

A captivating and absorbing read

I have read many of Santa Montefiore’s books and they never disappoint. Not only does she have the knack of writing a good story but she always makes me feel I am there with her as her descriptive powers are so good.

This story starts in the 1980’s and we are introduced to Evelina and her husband Franklin living happily in New York. Their 3 children are living their own lives and Evelina is content although she is still nostalgic for her childhood in Italy.

We then go back to 1934 in Fascist Italy. Evelina is 17 years old living with her parents and siblings in a small village in Northern Italy. She has led a happy but sheltered upbringing and when her older sister Benedetta is introduced to a ‘suitable’ man and agrees to marry him immediately, Evelina wonders if that will also be her fate or will she ever meet anyone whom she can marry for love. Not long afterwards she meets a young tailor in a dress shop and almost immediately the young couple fall in love. However Ezra Zanotti is not ‘suitable’ he is not very wealthy and he is also Jewish so they meet in secret. Things go from bad to worse when Mussolini joins Hitler in his condemnation of the Jewish people and eventually the whole Zanotti family are taken to a concentration camp. Evelina is totally heartbroken and knows she will never find another love and when, at the end of the war, she is told the whole family have been murdered decides to join her aunt and uncle who have offered her a home in New York.

.Despite her heartbreak eventually Evelina meets the older Franklin Van Der Velden and decides to marry him. She does love him but it is not the all-consuming love that she felt for Ezra. The book jumps backwards and forwards building up the story of her life and her family until in 1959 she is in a coffee shop in New York and in walks Ezra. Evelina had been told he was dead but as soon as she sees him again all the old feelings rush back.

Evelina is torn between her husband and her old lover and cannot decide what to do. She loves both men but in a totally different way. It is interesting to see how Ms Montefiore is able to distinguish between different types of love especially when caught up in so many good memories .I will leave it to the reader to see how the story ends.
I always find this author such a joy to read because she brings not only her characters to life but her wonderful description, especially of the Italian countryside, makes the story seem so real. The book seemed so real to me and I was not surprised to discover in the author’s own notes at the end that it was based on a true story that she had been told.

If you want a lovely relaxing read with a great story I would recommend this book. I loved it.


Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net galley

An epic story of love and loss and then love again through the second world war and from Italy to America, a true romance

Santa Montefiore's books are a soothing balm to your heart and soul. The most romantic of stories that you will fall in love with again & again & never tire of. She is a unique timeless author whose books are like no other you have ever read nor will again.

The story
Evangelina lives in Northern Italy, the daughter of a writer and his glamorous wife. She is tutored at home and leads a sheltered life. In the time leading up to WW2, her older sister is married to the son of her father’s friend while Evangelina flirts with Ezra, the son of the local, Jewish, material merchant in town. When the war arrives on their doorstep, both of their lives are changed forever.

My thoughts
I have read several of Santa Montefiore’s books over the years and love her writing. In this latest book, the story spans from rural Italy before and during the war, to New York in the post war years. There are twists in the story that give it great character. I loved how the importance of love and family is dealt with in this story in the most unusual way. It’s a goodie.

This is a fantastic story based partly in America in the early 1980s but also looking back at the time before and during the Second World War in Italy. Although I could foresee the story’s path to an extent it was incredible to think about how a different European country was affected by the atrocities, in particular the Jewish community. Evelina was a fantastic main character seeking life in the village outside her closeted existence and in particular the strength of her feelings for Ezra and her bewilderment at the treatment of her Jewish friends. She has a fabulous family both in Italy and in America and is incredibly principled. Her two worlds couldn’t be much more different but each version of her is equally intriguing and the fact this is loosely based on a real story is all the more amazing. 9/10