Love and War in the Apennines

This is such a wonderful book that any voracious reader would complete it in one sitting. The people and places have been so beautifully described that reading about them you form a picture in your mind of all of these mountainous locations and its inhabitants. The only deficiency was the lack of pictures of the places and people which should have been added, retaining the sane names as given in the book, which have been otherwise purposely changed by the author. For sure, I intensely wish to read all the books by the author and one small book by his wife Wanda also.

A fascinating book that tells you as much about Eric Newby as about the Italian peasants and anti-fascists who protected him.

I have been a member of a book club now for more years than I care to admit. The great part about the club is that we each take turns to nominate a book for review, I use this term lightly more an excuse to meet share some good wine, put the world to right & eventually find time to review a book. Even so it gives me an opportunity to read books I would not normally & evey now & then find a gem. This was one such book. The descriptions of Italy, it's people & struggle under a fasist regime in the 2nd world war meant it was hard to put down.The great thing about Amazon is that some of the books we read can be difficult to source, but Amazon has not let me down yet. Also I am a believer of recycling books & for others to get the same enjoyment from them so most of the books I buy are from the used section.Plus as Amazon colates by expenditure preferences it also recommends other books I may like, I know this is a way of them selling me more books, but hey it works for me.

During World War II, the rural citizens of northern Italy vowed to assist Allied soldiers on the run in their mountainous region. They were operating on an informed heart, on the Golden Rule, wanting to give aid to those who opposed the hated Fascists and Nazis as they would hope someone would help their own sons. And while the Allies were protected by the Geneva Convention should they be captured, the citizens were not and they were subject to less humane punishment, sometimes torture and death, if their actions were found out. But they did it anyway. It is these people, who otherwise lived a pastoral, ancient way of life, whom travel writer extraordinaire Eric Newby profiles in his memoir, LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES.Those familiar with Newby's other books will find his signature wit, self-deprecating humor and descriptive powers at work here, but his curiosity and appreciation of other people and cultures is in highest gear. He comes to meet the peasantry of northern Italy after fleeing a prison during the chaos following the ouster of Mussolini in September 1943. He is helped by a succession of individuals and families, including the woman who would become his wife and companion in later adventures, the estimable Wanda. The book ends with his unfortunate recapture by the Germans and in an epilogue he revisits the people who took him in ten years after.Newby is a hugely gifted writer, his sentences are knowing and clear as a bell. He orders information rhythmically, always knows when less is more and more is more. He never bows to sentimentality, never sells anyone out. He does a remarkable job of expressing the fear and dispiritedness that politics and war heave on a people, at the same time revealing their resilience. There is much to admire in this book.

Eric seems to enjoy the necessity of the absolute basics as he is on the run and happy for any food, company, warmth and shelter. Including being buried underground for a while. I enjoyed his humour. I found the timeline a little jumbled and I suspect it is compressed into a single autumn/winter, like his subsequent book when he buys a house in the Apuane, twenty years later. He really likes people and the traditions of the area, which I suspect he carried with him all of his life. Don’t buy his book about buying a house later. It’s a holiday home, at best and he skips over many decades of missing details.I live here.

A well paced and interesting read with a moving cast a characters.