The Secret Messenger by Mandy Robotham
Before I get started about the book… a note on the photo. I was trying to take a nice picture of the book on my deck with a tree in the background. Suddenly, there was a gust of wind and the book fell off my railing. So I went downstairs and ended up posing the book in the landscaping instead. Even though the background has nothing to to with the book, I think it turned out well.
So, anyway, the book….
I miss being able to travel. I got into this habit of going somewhere new every year and exploring the museums and the food and the culture. The world we live in right now doesn’t exactly lend itself to world travel, so I’m having to make do with armchair travel (just kidding. I very rarely sit in an armchair.).
Venice is such a beautiful city. It’s amazing that it’s been there for so long and the entire thing hasn’t sunk into the lagoon. Public transport consists of boats. There are bridges everywhere. It’s sort of ancient in the best possible way.
In this book, the author takes you all over Venice. The main character is both working as a translator for the Nazis and contributing to a partisan newspaper. She is also running messages and errands for the resistance in her spare moments. When part of the novel she is writing ends up in the newspaper, the Nazis start hunting for her. Will they find her? Can she keep her loved ones safe? How will the novel end (the one in the novel and I suppose the actual novel also)? She obviously survives because her British granddaughter is also trying to find her story in the present. But how did she come to be living in England later on? You’ll have to read it to find out.
I definitely recommend this. There is something about the writing that keeps you turning the pages. It is highly entertaining and definitely a great book if you want to travel to Venice during WWII.
I won this book in a giveaway that the publisher was running through their newsletter.
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