The Garden Of Letters by Alyson Richman– 384 pages
Book Blurb:
Portofino, Italy, 1943. A young woman steps off a boat in a scenic coastal village. Although she knows how to disappear in a crowd, Elodie is too terrified to slip by the German officers while carrying her poorly forged identity papers. She is frozen until a man she’s never met before claims to know her. In desperate need of shelter, Elodie follows him back to his home on the cliffs of Portofino. Only months before, Elodie Bertolotti was a cello prodigy in Verona, unconcerned with world events. But when Mussolini’s Fascist regime strikes her family, Elodie is drawn into the burgeoning resistance movement by Luca, a young and impassioned bookseller. As the occupation looms, she discovers that her unique musical talents, and her courage, have the power to save lives. In Portofino, young doctor Angelo Rosselli gives the frightened and exhausted girl sanctuary. He is a man with painful secrets of his own, haunted by guilt and remorse. But Elodie’s arrival has the power to awaken a sense of hope and joy that Angelo thought was lost to him forever.
My Review: 4 stars
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I was thrilled to read another Alyson Richman book, as I just loved her previous one, The Lost Wife. Having been to Portofino myself, I was easily able to imagine the beauty of the sea village in which much of this book took place. This book read lyrically and quietly, as if it was being whispered to me, even though at times, the atrocities were not easy to bear. Richman wonderfully weaves a beloved book, The Little Prince, into her storyline, which emanates hope for the entirety of the characters. This book centers on love, music, family, and the Italian resistance movement during WW2. For me, I found the music and the secret coding of messages the resistance used through both books and music just fascinating. For those of you who have read my reviews before, you know that if a book makes me look something up for further study, it’s a winner.
I am compelled to reread The Little Prince and to listen to some of the musical pieces that were mentioned in the book. Richman’s descriptions of the melodies and the actual instruments were beautiful. The main character, Elodie is full of intrigue as she goes from quiet musical prodigy to an important player in the resistance. Angelo was well developed and I just imagined him as the warmest, saddest and most tragically romantic man.
Quotes I liked:
She wishes she could tell him how much his words calm her… that they are like a verbal embrace.”
-“At what point is a woman most beautiful? When you first see her body? Her heart? Or her soul? …It was at that rare moment when you hold the woman you love in your arms and you see all three at once.”
-“There was also something about the smell of bookshops that was strangely comforting to her. She wondered if it was the scent of ink and paper, or the perfume of binding, string and glue. Maybe it was the scent of knowledge. Information. Thoughts and ideas. Poetry and love. All of it bound into one perfect, calm place.”
-Her mouth is like an open envelope, her tongue an invitation.”
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