Lisa Scottoline has written over 30 novels most of which are legal thrillers.  She decided to change her approach and investigate the Italian Holocaust because while in graduate school she had taken a course from Philip Roth on the literature of the Holocaust and was an avid reader of Primo Levi, the Italian Elie Wiesel.  In her latest effort she branches out to historical fiction  where she continues to deal with issues of family, justice, and honor but in a different format.  Her new novel, EITERNAL is set in Italy beginning in 1937 and follows a group of teenagers who are living a simple life until European politics and war engulf them.  Scottoline examines friendship and love and what they mean to her characters who must mature quickly as war overtakes their lives.

Scottoline begins by introducing one of her main characters Elisabetta D’afeo whose youth was encompassed by the regime of Benito Mussolini wondering how after twenty years she is finally going to tell her son who his father really was.  Scottoline immediately turns to May 1937 in Rome and focuses on the friendship triangle embodied in three teenagers; Elisabetta, who aspires to be a writer, works in the Casa Servano restaurant, caring for her alcoholic father and wrestles with the fact her mother has abandoned her.  Next we meet Marco Terrizzi, a young man who joins the local fascist party and disagrees with his father who fought in World War I and his brother, a priest over the course of Italian politics.  Lastly, we meet Sandro Simone, a brilliant Jewish mathematician, whose father becomes obsessed with helping fellow Jews acquire exemptions when the government begins to pass racial laws that destroy the lives of Italian Jews.

The three are close friends and a love triangle emerges as both Marco and Sandro fall in love with Elisabetta, a tomboyish girl they have known all their lives.  The first half of the novel revolves around this love triangle but once war commences all three find their lives turned upside down.  Religion, personal loyalty, relationships, and the pressure of racial laws and the war dominate the novel.

Scottoline develops the love triangle very carefully until it is undone by Mussolini’s racial laws.  Each family is affected by its contents particularly those who had been loyal fascists and even fought in World War I.  The story evolves in conjunction with the layering of racial laws by the Fascist government which are proclaimed over a few months.  Scottoline is meticulous in her  command of history and scenes are well thought out as she applies events, documents, and the beliefs of her characters which she integrates into her novel.  Examples of historical accuracy abound.  Aside from the development of racial laws, her recounting of the allied bombing of the San Lorenzo section of Rome in July 1943 and its impact that led to the overthrow of Mussolini is carefully presented while at the same time reflect how her characters react to the bombing which sets the stage for the last third of the novel.

Scottoline develops wonderful characters apart from Marco, Sandro, and Elisabetta.  A prime example is Sandro’s father, Massimo.  Once a successful tax lawyer he becomes the conduit for many Jews to obtain exemptions from the increasingly intrusive racial laws promulgated by the Italian government.  Massimo is a member of the Fascist Party and fought in World War I and can not understand why his family is denied an exemption because of his background.  Another is Nonna, a wonderful woman who owns the restaurant that Elisabetta works in.  When the young girl is left alone by her family she moves in with Nonna who becomes her surrogate mother, and she in turn becomes Nonna’s surrogate daughter.  There are numerous other characters which the author lists at the beginning of the book which makes it easier for the reader to keep up with as they are introduced and become major players in the novel.

The story develops slowly on a number of levels.  First, Marco whose job with the Fascist Party separates him from his closest friend because of the racial laws which he finds appalling because of its effect on Sandro’s family.  Second, Elisabetta, after severing her relationship with Marco and is turned away by Sandro, turns to authoring her novel as a means of healing.  Finally, Sandro, devastated by the racial laws accepts his plight and teaches math to children at the synagogue as part of his solace.

The book is a well written and an accomplished historical novel that is steeped in period detail and full of relatable characters and is a welcome addition to the ever expanding list of new historical novels dealing with World War II, and in this case focusing on Italy.  The concept of blind faith is severely tested throughout be it a loving relationship or loyalty to a growing anti-Semitic regime that has led Italy into a disastrous war denying people their livelihoods and for some their total existence. 

Scottoline focuses on the personal journeys of her characters.  Two stand out, Marco and his father Beppe.  The two become estranged over a series of issues but they will come back to each other.  What made it difficult was Beppe’s World War I experience and his belief in fascism.  His son Marco, also a committed fascist loved Mussolini and his country which his father warned him about before the war.  Once Italy surrenders and the Nazis seize Rome father and son join each other in the resistance.

Scottoline does a superb job of ramping up suspense as she delivers a slow-build up as she traces the October 1943 Nazi roundup of Rome’s Jewish ghetto and its impact on her characters that culminates in scenes where Jews are being shipped from a transit camp to their deaths in Auschwitz.  Scottoline offers many poignant scenes, many of which culminate in disaster.  Scottoline’s success in achieving such a wonderful novel leads this reader to hope that her foray into historical fiction will continue.

From the outset I must point out that Lauren Belfer is one of my favorite authors.  That opinion is predicated on a series of wonderful historical novels that she has written since 2003.  The first, CITY OF LIGHT, Belfer a New York Times bestselling author delves into turn of the century Buffalo, NY and evidence of a murder tied to the city’s cathedral-like power plant at nearby Niagara Falls.  She then authored the NPR Mystery of the Year, A FIERCE RADIANCE, a story centered around the uncertain days following Pearl Harbor, and the clinical testing of a new medication at the renowned Rockefeller Institute in New York. Belfer  follows with perhaps her finest work, AND AFTER THE FIRE: A NOVEL a story inspired by historical events—about two women, one European and one American, and the mysterious choral masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach that changes both their lives.  In her latest effort, ASHTON HALL Belfer pursues a different approach as for the first time her novel takes place in the present and does not focus totally on the past.  She still creates a strong evocative story which focuses on Hannah Larson, a frustrated academic who decides to leave New York City as she is dealing with a problematic marriage and takes her nine year old son, Nicky to Cambridge, England for a summer at a historic manor house.  She will soon be exposed to a discovery that will alter her life – her son Nicky finds the skeletal remains of a woman walled into a forgotten part of the manor.

Hannah had been working on her Ph. D in Greek art when her son Nicky was born.  She decided to put off her graduate education and take care of her son full time and relied on her husband, Kevin for support.  As Nicky grew he developed certain emotional and behavioral issues that seem to border on autism, but in the novel it is labeled “neurodiversity in children.”  Nicky is prone to violent and angry episodes at times which he cannot control.  Hannah is at a crossroads.  She wants to complete her dissertation, provide a new experience for her son, and after learning that her husband is bi-sexual decide what to do about her marriage – the offer to stay with her uncle Christopher who is dying of cancer at Ashton Hall seems like a fortuitous opportunity to recalibrate and experience the life she thought she should have, not the one she was living.

Once she arrives and gets settled at the mansion Nicky makes the skeletal discovery and the focus of the novel shifts.  Belfer has constructed a story that runs on parallel tracks.  First, we have Hannah’s personal quest to change her life’s path.  In conversations between characters, we learn a great deal about Hannah.  She comes from a family that survived the Holocaust with a self-willed and independent mother with no father to speak of.  Nicky becomes the core of her existence, but she is trying to ameliorate her situation by turning to her past to rekindle a new avocation.  Second, Belfer uses the discovery of the skeletal remains to pursue another story line and a historical character that Hannah can relate to and to whom she will develop a deep attachment.  Third, she begins to develop a relationship with Professor Matthew Varet, a Cambridge University archeologist who is assisting in trying to identify who the skeleton was and in what time period.

The model for Ashton Hall was Bickling Hall in York, England, a national trust historical mansion.  Legend holds that Anne Boleyn was born at the site and each year she haunts the estate on the anniversary of her execution.  Years ago, Belfer had visited the mansion and stayed at a nearby cottage and after years of deliberation decided to use it as a model for her current work.

Belfer carefully unravels the research process that will identify the skeleton as Isabella Cresham who lived in the latter part of the 16^th century.  Hannah identifies with Isabella in a number of ways, and it seems the two women are linked across the centuries.  By going through the books Cresham has read in the mansion’s library Hannah learns of their mutual interest in art and from genetic testing she learns that the woman is between 35-45 years old, is physically healthy, is of a high social class, has reddish hair and never gave birth to a child.  Hannah is clearly haunted by the discovery of Cresham, and she sees parallels between their lives with a nagging question: did Cresham choose this life, or was she locked away?   The undercurrent for the Cresham discovery was the reappearance of plague, and the religious conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism in England during her lifetime, a theme that continues to reappear throughout the novel, and evidence that points to Cresham’s devotion to Catholicism.  Intolerance, murder, death, and violence, characteristic of Elizabethan England has similarities for Hannah because of her families’ experiences during World War II.

The physical structure of Ashton Hall is on full display with moats and priest holes along with the architecture  of the castle.  Different personages from the period, i.e., Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VII, and VIII among a number of historical personalities appear.  Belfer employs account registers, library records and key 16^th century documents to provide Professor Varet and his academic partner, Dr. Martha Tingley’s tools research in reconstructing Cresham’s life.  Belfer writes with a light touch and digs up fascinating details of the period.  For example, the role of mothers in 16^th century England included that of a medical practitioner applying various herbal remedies.  For instance, during his reign Henry VIII suffered from gout and used the homeopathic remedy, colchicum, a remedy that is still used today by homeopathic practitioners and some MDs.

ASHTON HALL is a well crafted novel and draws the reader into the story in a slow careful manner.  Though Belfer’s approach may be different from previous novels, in the end it is a success as one is drawn into the two parallel lives.  The story abounds with comparisons of what it is to be British, and what it is to be American.  The differences and similarities are interesting and point to Belfer’s astute observations. In the end, if you fancy Tudor England, historical fiction, the history pertaining to libraries, and a story that is a struggle for self-identity and discovery you should enjoy the story.