This is a book that had to be written, was meant to be written and that should be read by everyone. It is a heart wrenching true story of a young girl growing up in Italy under Mussolini’s reign and Hitler’s occupation and it shows you and makes you feel what she and her family endured. It is written with a deep and compelling understanding of Lilia’s and her family’s suffering, and that is no surprise because it is written by Lilia’s own daughter, Linda Ganzini. And what a superb writer Ms. Ganzini is. So when I say this was a story meant to be told, I mean so on every level.
This telling will be a voice for generations to come in showing us what the innocent of Italy endured, often being sent to Nazi concentration camps, suffering in fear during the occupation of their cities and villages, the endless loss of loved ones, deprivations, food shortages and starvation, bombings and a life of fear and hopelessness. My father was stationed in Italy the last 16 months of the war, as a 23-24-year-old American soldier. He would tell me of the suffering he saw on the faces of the people he met in villages across the country, that it was nothing he would ever forget. It broke his heart over and over.
But young Lilia, the author’s mom, had such a zest for life she managed to keep her hope alive. Yes, there were times her life was so painful, she did nearly lose that hope, but it always surfaced again. Lilia will be admired and loved by many because of her story of courage and strength under such harsh conditions and because of this amazing book her daughter has written. This mother and daughter team has given us an important book that resonates with compassion while offering historical documentation and significance. She is now writing a second book about her mother’s life after the war.
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Lila has an intensity that I won’t soon forget.
Lilia is a family affair in that the author is also the daughter of the main character, Lila. Linda Ganzini probably grew up with these stories, snippets and pieces of her mother’s childhood to young adult throughout her own childhood. These are stories of love, courage, fear, sadness, joy and survival of one family in the rumbling and foreboding shadows of WWII in a small Italian village. The story begins in Italy in 1939. It’s told through the many eyes of the Meneguzzi family giving us much insight into the day to day routines. As the rumbles of war grow louder so does the uncertainty and fear.Young Lilia’s story is stirring and heart wrenching at the same time. She is a child herself taking care of younger siblings. Life is harsh but there is still much joy in the simple everyday things. Her mother is the rock of the family. She is strict, boarding on bitter as she also gave up her childhood. Lila’s father is the balance for the family; providing the core strength and unconditional love that binds them all together.Lila’s story reads like a memoir….stories told to her daughter many times over the years. It is obvious that events have been tediously researched to bring into focus the harsh realities of a war torn village in Italy and the sacrifices made by so many. Ganzini has successfully made her mother’s story real and stirring. Lila is written with love, respectful awe and an intensity that pulls you into the story. Lila has an intensity that I won’t soon forget. Lila would be an excellent choice for a book club selection.I’ll just end with this…I must have read The Summer of 1952 three times before finally closing the book. Could it be???? I think there’s more yet to tell. I sure hope so.A Stirring ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022
Young Lilia’s story is stirring and heart wrenching at the same time. She is a child herself taking care of younger siblings. Life is harsh but there is still much joy in the simple everyday things. Her mother is the rock of the family. She is strict, boarding on bitter as she also gave up her childhood. Lila’s father is the balance for the family; providing the core strength and unconditional love that binds them all together.
Lila’s story reads like a memoir….stories told to her daughter many times over the years. It is obvious that events have been tediously researched to bring into focus the harsh realities of a war torn village in Italy and the sacrifices made by so many. Ganzini has successfully made her mother’s story real and stirring. Lila is written with love, respectful awe and an intensity that pulls you into the story. Lila has an intensity that I won’t soon forget. Lila would be an excellent choice for a book club selection.
I’ll just end with this…
I must have read The Summer of 1952 three times before finally closing the book. Could it be???? I think there’s more yet to tell. I sure hope so.
A Stirring ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lila has an intensity that I won’t soon forget.
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022
Lilia is a family affair in that the author is also the daughter of the main character, Lila. Linda Ganzini probably grew up with these stories, snippets and pieces of her mother’s childhood to young adult throughout her own childhood. These are stories of love, courage, fear, sadness, joy and survival of one family in the rumbling and foreboding shadows of WWII in a small Italian village. The story begins in Italy in 1939. It’s told through the many eyes of the Meneguzzi family giving us much insight into the day to day routines. As the rumbles of war grow louder so does the uncertainty and fear.Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022
Young Lilia’s story is stirring and heart wrenching at the same time. She is a child herself taking care of younger siblings. Life is harsh but there is still much joy in the simple everyday things. Her mother is the rock of the family. She is strict, boarding on bitter as she also gave up her childhood. Lila’s father is the balance for the family; providing the core strength and unconditional love that binds them all together.
Lila’s story reads like a memoir….stories told to her daughter many times over the years. It is obvious that events have been tediously researched to bring into focus the harsh realities of a war torn village in Italy and the sacrifices made by so many. Ganzini has successfully made her mother’s story real and stirring. Lila is written with love, respectful awe and an intensity that pulls you into the story. Lila has an intensity that I won’t soon forget. Lila would be an excellent choice for a book club selection.
I’ll just end with this…
I must have read The Summer of 1952 three times before finally closing the book. Could it be???? I think there’s more yet to tell. I sure hope so.
A Stirring ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2021
Top reviews from other countries
Domenic
Lilia
Reviewed in Canada on January 4, 2024
Domenic
Reviewed in Canada on January 4, 2024
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A Gothic Writer's reading nook
Lilia made my heart ache...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2021
A Gothic Writer's reading nook
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2021
Lilia is the fictionalised memoir of Lilia and her family through Nazi occupation in Northern Italy, during WWII. Made more personal by the fact that Lilia is the author's mother, a point that keeps this story grounded in a very real way. (And on a personal note too, as Lilia and my own father were around the same age. Although my father was here in England, an evacuee ripped from his family, I have Italian roots and to know I had family who suffered the same was hard to swallow whilst reading this.)
We first meet Lilia in all her personal strife and hardship at the age of four, a small child with the heavy burden of daily chores and care of her younger brothers. We are pulled into a fierce embrace as we travel through the story of her family, predominantly told through the eyes of this child. There are tears, tragedy, hardship and pain, but there is also laughter and intense love that holds this all together. This is a story of everyday, normal, people just like you and me who face unimaginable horrors of war.
I won't give anything of the story away, knowing the setting and era of the story is enough to want you to read. I managed to keep my emotions in check most of the way through this book being caught up in the colour and texture of watching a movie; in fact, it was the Authors Note at the end that broke me. That stark reminder that the story I had just read was true, real, and leaving oh such a bitter taste on my tongue that left me in tears for an hour after.
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Luisa
The story is very touching and penetrating, in a word heartbreaking.
Reviewed in Italy on April 25, 2021
ozzieozzieozzie
Lilia - a good read for all, especially Northern Italians
Reviewed in Australia on January 31, 2024