Edith's War — Andrew Smith

Edith's War, a novel, tells one woman's heart-wrenching, yet ultimately heart-warming, story of love, hardship, passion and motherhood when she encounters the internment of Italians during Liverpool's Blitz of World War II. In early summer of 1940 young newly-wed, Edith Maguire, meets Carlo, the son of her Italian neighbours. With her English husband out of the country fighting for King and Country, Edith is besieged by unexpected and confusing emotions and longings. She is swept up in the unthinkable event of her Italian neighbours' internment and experiences first-hand the hardships and grief that ensue. Edith's story is interwoven with observations and recollections by her two adult sons during a day spent waiting in Venice for their mother, now in her 80s, to join them for a brief holiday. The two men's ruminations and discussions of their childhood during and following WWII slowly but surely release hidden memories and reveal long-held secrets. Edith s War is a tale of forbidden love, survival, courage, forgiveness, and an intricate web of relationships spanning three generations. 'Edith's War' won a Gold Independent Publisher Award for Fiction.