The New York Times Book Review - Stanislao G. Pugliese
Making judicious use of thousands of letters, Moorehead paints an intimate family portrait…[She] writes engagingly about domestic matters, the tension inherent in the underground resistance and even the dreary monotony of life in confino on the remote penal islands…Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family. She reminds us that these anti-fascists "regarded morality—truth, integrity, honesty, as opposed to fascist venality and bullying—as lying at the heart of their anti-fascism." It's the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.
From the Publisher
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.” — Wall Street Journal
“An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.” — New York Times Book Review
“This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.” — New Yorker
“Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.”
— Guardian
“An extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance.... A must-read.” — Library Journal, starred review
“Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.” — Financial Times
“Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.” — Max Hastings, London Sunday Times
“A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.” — Times (London)
“Shines light on the Rosselli family… to illuminate the treacherous and contradictory nature of life in Il Duce’s Italy…. As well versed in Italian socialism as she is in spy-novel tropes, Moorehead combines intellectual rigor with immersive storytelling that will appeal to specialists and casual readers alike.” — Publishers Weekly
“An absorbing, well-documented narrative…. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance.” — Kirkus
“An inspiring story, well told.” — Booklist
Guardian
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.”
Times (London)
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Max Hastings
Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.
Financial Times
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
New York Times Book Review
An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.
New Yorker
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Wall Street Journal
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
Booklist
An inspiring story, well told.
Booklist
An inspiring story, well told.
Wall Street Journal
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
New Yorker
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Financial Times
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Financial Times
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
People on A Train in Winter
A moving novelistic portrait. . . . An inspiring and fascinating read.
New York Times Book Review on A Train in Winter
By turns heartbreaking and inspiring.
Washington Post on A Train in Winter
A compelling and moving book. . . . . The literature of wartime France and the Holocaust is by now so vast as to confound the imagination, but when a book as good as this comes along, we are reminded that there is always room for something new.
The New Yorker on Village of Secrets
Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants, who sheltered the refugees and helped many escape to Switzerland. But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex.
Wall Street Journal on Village of Secrets
The definitive account.
New York Times Books Review on Village of Secrets
Compelling and deeply informed…. [Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends.
Leanda de Lisle
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Alex Preston
Moorehead’s portrait of the Rosselli brothers is at once a political history of pre-second world war Italy, a beautiful literary portrait of two brave young men, and a gripping tale of intrigue, espionage and escape.... I finished it impressed, breathless and enormously moved.
Jonathan Keates
A major contribution to the study of anti-Fascism, further enriched by Caroline Moorehead’s vivid portrayal of interwar Italy and Europe.
Tony Barber
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Miranda Seymour
Carefully, and with considerable skill, Moorehead juxtaposes the growth into maturity of the intelligent Florentines, Carlo and Nello, with a vivid account of the turbulent conditions that enabled Fascism to take root.”
Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
The Guardian
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
The Times (London)
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Kirkus Reviews
2017-07-04
A history of the Italian family who mounted an intrepid campaign against Mussolini.After World War I, fascism took hold in war-torn Italy, culminating in the rise of 39-year-old Mussolini as the nation's youngest prime minister. In 1922, supported by the royal family, the Vatican, and about 25,000 well-trained Blackshirts, Mussolini, demanding "full powers" to lead, faced weak opposition by socialists, communists, and liberals. In an absorbing, well-documented narrative, historian Moorehead (Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, 2014, etc.) focuses on the Rosselli family—brothers Carlo and Nello and their mother, Amelia—who became tireless leaders of an anti-fascist movement that grew in strength as Mussolini's reign of terror intensified. "Fascism," writes the author, "quickly spread its tentacles over the fabric of Italian life. The army, the aristocracy, the Church and industry, all were rallying to defend the rights of a usurper." Drawing on thousands of family letters as well as biographies of Mussolini and histories of the period, Moorehead powerfully depicts the family's anger and despair as Italy succumbed to what Carlo called "an enormous black plague." Although at first some anti-fascists hoped that Mussolini, who was "boastful, vain, cruel and erratic," would fail on his own, it soon became clear that they needed to wage a real battle. By 1927, Mussolini had abolished elections and installed himself as minister "of foreign affairs, of the interior, of war, of the navy and air force, and of corporations." Textbooks were rewritten and journalists fired if they showed "aversion" to fascism. Anti-fascists grew stronger, with Carlo standing as "the most prominent leader of the non-communist anti-fascist opposition." The author chronicles the efforts by Carlo and Nello that led to repeated arrests and incarcerations on Italy's prison islands. When he was released, Carlo took up a frantic pace of writing and speeches, traveling to Paris, London, and, during the Spanish Civil War, Spain. Constantly in Mussolini's cross hairs, the brothers finally were assassinated: 200,000 people followed their funeral procession. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance.
