Synopsis
Adam Miller had had a long war, and when the US Army let him go he made his way to Venice where his mother was trying to recreate her pre-war life. Exhausted both in body and spirit the pace of the ancient city began to heal him, and when he met Claudia, an Italian Jewess, he was ripe for seduction. Claudia's war had been worse, and after Mussolini's downfall she was quickly betrayed to the SS. While she survived, her father didn't, and to her horror she discovers that the man who was responsible for them being sent to the camp is about to become her new lover's step-father. In a violent confrontation Adam and Claudia are left needing to create an unbreakable alibi, which they do, but to uphold it Adam must establish what really happened to these people and in doing so exposes the ambiguity of morality in peace and in war, and has to grapple with the questions of what is good or evil, what is right or wrong, and does truth really matter?

This was on my wish list - looks good.

This tense and atmospheric thriller is set in Venice just after WW2. Venice was never touched by bombs but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its share of the nastiness, collaboration, corruption, betrayal and murder. The more privileged inhabitants of this beautiful dream like city want to carry on living as they did before, put all that behind them, let it sink to the bottom of the lagoon, but it’s all bound to come floating back to the surface in the end.

The author takes his time to introduce us to the place and the main characters through the eyes of the narrator, Adam. He is beguiled by Venice and the life his mother is leading, but underneath uncomfortable, especially about the man his mother intends to marry. When he falls in love with Claudia and learns what happened to her during the war, he discovers that things may be even worse than he feared and begins to delve into the past. This sets off a chain of events that leads to murder and a complicated web of lies, alibis and cover ups

I like the way this novel, which is exciting and dramatic, also explores the moral ambiguities of war and its aftermath. Should we forget the crimes committed by people in extreme circumstances, under occupation, struggling for survival? Can murder be justified under any circumstances? What about justice and retribution?

In the end, everyone in this story is guilty and there are no comfortable answers.

I really enjoyed this for all the above reasons. I also loved the descriptions of Venice – wintery, often wet and dark, but still ‘out of this world’ and as important a character in the novel as any of the people. It probably helps to be at least a bit familiar with the geography and landmarks of Venice and various terms for things – calle, campo, piano nobile etc - A guide book may help!!!

latest: No-one seems much interested in a bookray for this so I'm going to set it free in the wild.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Letting this go before I go on a spice ramble on Saturday.