Lambrusco

by: Ellen Cooney

Published by: Anchor Books

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

It is 1943, and Lucia Fantini is returning from a “shopping expedition” to her small Italian town of Mengo. She is carrying bags of flour with guns buried inside, and ammunition in her purse and pockets.

Lucia’s late husband used to run Aldo’s, a great restaurant where she sang for the guests. Her son Beppi ran it until the fascists took it over. Now Beppi and the waiters are partisans, and Lucia is getting the guns for them. Beppi, however, has blown up a truck with a cannon on it, and is on the run.

On the train Lucia meets a very unusual nun, actually an American woman who has been sent to help the partisans and to coordinate with them prior to the American invasion. The nun, Annamaria, saves Lucia from being captured by the Germans on her way home on the train, and Lucia’s adventures begin. First she is buried in a bombing, and is rescued by her waiters, who adore her. For the ensuing weeks she is hospitalized, escapes, is chased from one small town to another by bombs and attacks, as she tries to hunt down Beppi.

Lucia’s treks through the countryside, suffering from her head injury, and her meet ups with remarkable farmers, partisans, peasants, and her extended family of waiters, are beautifully rendered. Lucia’s memories of operatic arias, childhood songs, her husband and beautiful past times in Aldo’s are enchanting.

You will love Lucia and her “family.” The vignettes of war-torn Italy and the Italian people are stunning.

Armchair Interviews says: A very interesting historical fiction.