December 7, 2023
Random Acts… Every connection matters in life
The title of the book is what drew me – “Escape to Florence” by Kat Devereaux (Harper, 262 pp).
The Ponte Vecchio. The Piazza della Repubblica. The Duomo. All landmarks that make a visit to Florence, Italy feel like strolling through an open-air museum. My sister and I went there for our own escape a few years ago, and fell in love with the city.
In Deveraux’s novel, two women – decades apart – find their lives converging in way that only fate (and an author) could have designed. Moving between World War II and the present, we learn about two brave women – Stella Infuriati, a 14-year-old Resistance fighter, and Tori MacNair, a writer who has moved to Florence to escape an abusive marriage, and start a new life.
Stella, who lives in the shadow of her brother Achille, a courier and undercover mechanic for a communist partisan brigade, represents the many Italian women who acted as couriers for the Resistance during the war.
When the war ends, Stella mysteriously disappears, her fate overshadowed by the tragic death of her brother. But when Tori arrives in the city her grandmother taught her to love in 2019, secrets of the past begin to emerge.
As Tori researches her family history for a book, the connection between the two women comes to light.
Deveraux’s characters are drawn from meticulous research: Don Anselmo, based on spiritual leaders who actively helped partisans with intelligence and weapons during the war; Achille Infuriati can be found in the many young men in the Resistance and race drivers in the post-war period, and even Stella’s parents, based on those who dismissed the contributions of women when the war was over.
To understand a country is to appreciate its past, as well as its present state. The beauty of Florence is centuries deep, and while World War II was fought decades ago, the far-right party (Fratelli d’Italia), which has its roots in the neo-fascist movement that emerged after the war, now rules the government.
“Escape to Florence” is a reminder that love and loss is what connects us all as human beings. If we’re fortunate, we survive the loss to love again.
The world lost an admired monarch when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms died on Sept. 8, 2022. Her passing could not have been anticipated when S.J. Bennett wrote “Murder Most Royal…Her Majesty the Queen Investigates” (William Morrow, 284 pp), the latest novel in a series of mysteries featuring Queen Elizabeth II as the royal sleuth who quietly solves crimes.
In the book, Queen Elizabeth is looking forward to the family’s annual Christmas gathering in Sandringham when the discovery of a severed hand is found, bearing the signet ring of someone she knew. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, the Queen decides to look into the matter, determined to solve the murder.
As far as characters go, the Queen and her family in the book are clearly admired by the author, who paints a portrait of their imagined private lives that Anglophiles would find precise and fascinating. As for the murder at the heart of the story, suffice to say the investigation was slow and plodding.
In the book’s acknowledgments, the author notes that “The news of (Queen Elizabeth’s) death came the day I handed in the proofs, so I’m rewriting this page in a state of shock, despite knowing full well this day must come.”
Bennett says much of what she wants to say about the Queen, her role in people’s lives and impact on the world is said in the book series, and “I intend to write more of them as there is still so much of her life to explore.”
It’s not easy to let go of those we love, but at some point, we must. Honoring someone whose life meant so much to so many is fine, but making money off those memories — when the person has so recently passed — seems a bit crass.
Netflix had the good sense to end “The Crown,” a hit series that follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, with a final Season 6.
Bennett’s next book in this series (“A Death in Diamonds”) is due to come out in 2024.
Dinah Eng 