It wasn't until I listened to the audiobook of Mark Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky that I gave much thought to the Italian Resistance during World War II. Yes, I knew it existed, but that's about it. Then I came across A House in the Mountains, the true story of Ada, Frida, Silvia, and Bianca-- four women who risked everything to defeat Fascism in Italy-- and I knew I had to read it.

This is a rich, dense book filled with historical detail. I learned that Italy basically had to fight for its own survival with little outside help. The entire country and its inhabitants were held in deep suspicion by the UK and the US because of Mussolini's twenty-year reign. Besides, they believed the country was about to turn Communist anyway, and neither wanted to help Communists. Then Mussolini was overthrown, and now the Italian people had a new enemy: Germany. A sentence that made my blood run cold: "Italy, which had been a useless ally, was now occupied by men [Nazis] who had learned in Eastern Europe how to treat useless people."

Italy was now being brutally stripped of everything the Third Reich needed to fuel the war effort, and anyone who tried to stand in the way was murdered. The first to stand up and fight back were the women of Italy, who had been totally disenfranchised during Mussolini's reign. They stood up in their thousands and joined the Resistance, risking everything for their freedom.

A House in the Mountains is fascinating and inspiring, showing how the Resistance in Italy began and how it gathered strength, and I appreciate having a much better understanding of Italy and its people now. ( )

If I had recalled the other Moorehead title I read, I wouldn’t have bothered. She has an editing problem. You get much more than you think you’re getting. Here, Moorehead feels she needs to re-tell the entire story of the war in Italy and the rest of the region. Her coverage of her supposed main characters is spotty and she keeps slipping away to tell all the mens stories as well. ( )

This is a well researched and written book for a narrow audience. My only complaint is the book's subtitle "the women who liberated Italy from Fascism". The insertion of the word "helped" would have made the cover less misleading. The book generally follows the lives of four women who become members of the resistance against Mussolini and his government during World War 2 and after with their disappointment that women didn't get their deserved credit and the benefits they hoped for in post war Italy. Well worth reading if this topic appeals to you. ( )

Bloody times fighting the fascists and Nazis in northern Italy. Strong women.