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by Kenneth Thomas (Author)
A Forbidden Love. A War-Torn Italy. A Secret That Could Change Everything.
Sicily, 1943. The war has reached the shores of Italy, and Livia Rossi's world is crumbling. Once the privileged daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner, she now watches as her homeland is torn apart by Fascist rule and the looming shadow of German occupation. The villa that once promised safety has become a prison of silence, where resistance is whispered and loyalty can be deadly.
One fateful night, in the moonlit cypress grove near her family's estate, Livia discovers a wounded man collapsed beneath the trees. He is Angelo Moretti, a resistance fighter marked for execution, bleeding from a gunshot wound. Against every instinct of self-preservation, Livia makes a choice that will alter the course of her life-she decides to save him.
As she hides him within the walls of Villa della Rosa, Livia is thrust into a dangerous world of secrets, betrayal, and forbidden love. Her childhood friend, Marcello Bonetti, now a loyal Fascist officer, begins to suspect her of hiding something-or someone. As the German forces tighten their grip on Sicily, Livia and Angelo are caught in a perilous dance between desire and destruction, where a single misstep could mean death.
How far will she go to protect a man who has stolen her heart? And will love be enough to survive a war that threatens to consume them both?
Decades Later, A Secret Waiting to Be Uncovered...
Present-day Sicily. Elena Marconi never knew the truth about her grandmother Livia's past. Growing up, she only heard fragments-stories of a war, a great love, and a loss too painful to speak of. When a series of old letters are discovered in a rusted tin box beneath the cypress trees, Elena stumbles upon a name she has never heard before.
"My dearest Angelo..."
The words unravel everything she thought she knew about her family. If Livia was married to her grandfather, Marcello, then who was Angelo? And why was his name never spoken?
Determined to uncover the truth, Elena embarks on a journey that will take her through the ruins of war-torn Sicily, where the echoes of the past are waiting to be heard. With the help of Nico Romano, a historian with his own connection to the resistance, Elena pieces together a love story that defied the odds-but was ultimately lost to history.
Some secrets were meant to stay buried. Others demand to be set free.
