A Thread of Grace: A Novel

The characters in this complicated and powerful story will remain in my memory for a long time. Set in the northern countryside in Italy during WWII, this is the story of the "common and everyday" Italians who hid many Jews and the story of the resistance movement which changed these ordinary people into heroes, saints, or sinners. I admit I had some difficulty with the first several chapters of the book due to the complexity of the names and places. I'm not a WWII history buff so have little background); however, it wasn't long until these complicated names became familiar faces in my mind. The author does a beautiful job of making characters come alive; it's easy to envision the drunken German doctor, the overworked and overwhelmed rabbi's wife, the young Jewish daughter attempting to take care of her father while never quite understanding why they are leaving. The evolution of that young woman into a partisan herself is only one thread of the story.The scenes of brutality are hard to read, but the scenes of tenderness set in the midst of that brutality bring tears. This juxtaposition seems to be one of Russell's best strengths. Two examples come to mind. Young Claudette gives birth too soon, her husband of only a few days already killed. Duno, once a rash, immature neighbor filled with bravado, tenderly tells her the baby is "beautiful" and stays at her bedside. Later in the novel when Father Osvaldo Tomiz is horribly tortured and near death, it is Werner Schramm, a Nazi doctor who has deserted, who bluffs his way into the prison to give the final rites and perform one more killing.The ending of this book is just like the war; there are no nice clean tight solutions. Rather there is a memory of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances who lived through or died either fighting for what they believed in or died as the result of others not even sure why they are fighting. This book is not an easy read. My one complaint is the abundance of German and Italian words and phrases that I was usually able to figure out, but not always (sometimes the author assumes the reader is smart), but reading "Thread of Grace" is certainly well worth the effort and immensely satisfying.

The book arrived exactly when expected, actually a bit earlier, and was in excellent condition just as described.

A Thread of Grace is set during WWII and follows a group of Jewish refugees who have fled to southern France and relative protection of the Italian occupied area. Now the Italians have surrendered to the Allies the German army is coming and they must flea over the Alps into Northern Italy following the path that Hannibal and his elephants took centuries before. However Italy is now occupied by the German Army and the Allies are only slowly fighting their way north. If refugees like young Claudette Blum and her father want to survive they must find friends and hide until the allies come. This is the little known story of the partisans of northern Italy and of the people who hid Jewish refugees from the Germans.Having read Mary Doria Russell's two other books Sparrow and Children of God and loved them I was disappointed to find that her next book wasn't sci-fi. However my opinion changed upon reading A Thread of Grace. Like her other books it is incredibly well written, the characters come alive and you become invested in their fate as if you are walking with them. My only issue with the book was the Italian names that mean I often didn't know which group of people and where they were until into the chapter. One character also has several names and personas, which was hard for me to keep up with but in another way added to the enjoyment of the book.A Thread of Grace was incredibly moving and sad but most of all I enjoyed reading about the role of the church and the citizens of northern Italy who risked all to save the Jewish refugees. I was delighted to find reading the notes at the end of the book that the story set in a real background where deeds like those in the book really happened.Meredith BrocklebankAuthor of In The Realm of the Golden Queen

I had been putting off reading this book for sometime but finally decided to try it. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy read given the author and subject and I was right. It wasn't so much as a difficult read as it was a disappointing read.The book centers around the many Jewish people who sought help to escape the Nazis by traveling to Italy. By the time some of them arrive there though, Italy has surrendered and the Germans are about to march into Italy. Ironically, this spring we traveled through Umbria and Tuscany and one day found ourselves in a small village where the Jews were of the town were hidden throughout the war by the Italians of this town. Today only one Jewish women lives in this town with her son and nephew but they are still very proud of the face that they survived the war and love their village for saving them among many others.Although I expected to really love this book and gain some more knowledge about a group that saved Jews which I didn't know before there were some major drawbacks to this book. To begin with this book never really drew me in. I found that I was confused by the many characters and had to often refer to the list of names and where they were from at the beginning of the book. And if that wasn't enough the thrust of the story which revolved around Jewish families, Christian people who helped the Jews, members of the Catholic Church and the Germans occupied many different areas in Italy and I found this also confusing.I don't regret that I read this book but that I really didn't enjoy it all that much. The three stars rather than less was for the research that the author put into this book. For a better take on a book set during WWII, I recommend the incomparable Stones from the River or The Invisible Bridge.

3.5 starsA Thread Of Grace is historical fiction set during World War Two.The main setting is north west Italy, primarily the two year period from 1943 to the end of the war. By 1943, pockets of Europe’s Jewish communities had escaped to South East France and were overseen by Italian armed forces, but then Italy switched sides. No longer safe, many of the Jews crossed the Alps hoping for safety in Italy; however, the Germans still dominated most of the country.Featuring a complex mix of social, political and religious supporters, this story is about the strengths and determination of the people of this small province of Italy and how they helped hide, feed and protect thousands of Jewish refugees.The book begins with a list of forty-six characters names, a daunting number, so I read with some trepidation thinking about how I would create memorable images of them all. The plot moves at a good pace and there is plenty of action and tension; I could imagine the settings and the situations that happened.The author’s quantity of research shines through and her enthusiasm to tell the tale of the brave men and women is exemplary. However, with multiple characters all needing time for their stories, and weaving them together, the storytelling is, at times, hard to follow. Characters became names on paper rather than rounded three dimensional images in my head.Renzo Leoni became a firm favourite; his bravery, confidence and control of situations while masking his own guilt gave him much needed layers of character. It also helped that he had three different identities, meaning that he frequently appeared in the narrative, which gave me an anchor to connect some of the many other characters to.Overall, I mostly enjoyed the book.  What I will take away is the bravery of so many in protecting strangers and the lengths they went to in a horrific period of history.

A Thread of Grace tells the story of the Nazi occupation of a region of north east Italy. It begins with an uprooted community of Jews in southern France who have to flee France across the Alps when the Italians sign the armistice. It’s essentially the story of how these refugees fare in Italy.When I discovered Russel had invented all the locations in the novel I was a bit dubious as so often this is a trick writers use to mask the sparseness of their knowledge. But the thoroughness of the research in this novel and the beautiful lightness with which it carries it is breathtaking. This is no Nightingale where one felt the author had spent two weeks in France, had no knowledge of the language beyond oui and merde and had read a couple of books on the war and watched a few films. Russel has an intimate knowledge of Italy, Italians and every aspect of her material which is impressively wide. She sets herself the task of telling the story from all sides – so the cast of characters is expansive: we have the Gestapo, Wehrmacht officers, a chief Rabbi, Catholic priests, Nuns, a German deserter, partisans, fascists, an English SOE officer, children, mothers, fathers and grandparents. Were I to be hyper-critical I might say there were too many characters and as a result it was difficult to emotionally bond with any one specific character. It didn’t though bother me though I can imagine it might try the patience of some readers. Sometimes you have to read back to remind yourself who someone is, not helped by a couple of characters changing their identity. Only other nitpick was now and again a character would deliver a history lesson – in those times propaganda was rife and no one knew for certain what was happening so when a character gives a detailed account of what exactly German divisions on other fronts are doing or what Allied tactics were it jarred a bit. The majority of WW2 novels tend to do this. I’m reading the journal of an Italian partisan at the moment and despite being very well connected she doesn’t have much of a clue what’s going on in the war. It’s all rumours. I suspect fiction has contributed to the notion we now have that many more people knew about the Holocaust while it was happening than in reality did. My partisan woman certainly knew nothing about it. It’s a fascinating subject in itself how fiction begins to alter our perception of historical events. So A Thread of Grace is a tremendously enjoyable novel with no other pretensions but to tell a fabulously well-crafted story (and into the bargain pay homage to the humanity and bravery of the Italian people in helping a persecuted friendless people in need). Most beguiling of all its characteristics was the love with which this novel was written. You could feel that heartbeat of love on every page.

I have been a great fan of Mary Doria Grace since the Sparrow and the Children of God, an extraordinary couple of books which I much recommend. I discovered The thread of grCe whilst thinking about Italy's role in the Holocaust. It appears well researched and as usual you have MDR's skillful and interesting chArecterisation. But the most fascinating thing about the book was the story that it told, about ordinary Italians who refused to give up the 'Hebrews'. It was a part of history that was new to me.

A wonderful book. Thrilling, moving and extremely interesting. I know Italy and have talked to people who remember the German occupation and the chaos at the end of the war and everything in the book rang true while I learned a lot I didn't know. She 's a fine writer with a big heart. I can't think of higher recommendation. I'm looking forward to reading everything she has written. .

WWII, Mussolini had surrendered Italy to Hitler. Disillusioned where this war was going A small group of Italian Soldiers part of the resistance had taken it upon themselves to save the lives of Jewish refugees from the work camps and execution from Nazi soldiers by escorting them on an arduous journey through a mountain pass, selflessly sacrificing there lives to save others. Along the way Italian citizens just ordinary people all learning to survive the horrors of War and its brutality, they extended their hand of friendship. In many cases showing peoples different sides of good and evil, which at times could be heartbreaking.This is the first book I've read written by Mary Doria Russell, it was given to me and it turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Ms Russell had spent five years researching to find the essence to this engrossing story. Based on the true story of the Italian resistance who were to have saved ten of thousands of jews during the final phases of the second world war. Although this book is fictional, the plot is strong, vivid characters and many emotional tragedies. The only drawback would be some parts could be confusing, there are a lot of characters racing through this book with many different view points to keep track of, but if you can grasp it and keep track of it, this is a beautiful read. It's a wonderful achievement.