His Most Italian City


Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
Kindle Edition
Reviewed on 11/10/2019
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Keyla Damaer for Readers' Favorite

His Most Italian City by Margaret Walker takes place at the dawn of the fascist era in Italy. After the Great War, a piece of land previously part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is given to Italy. For thousands of people, it meant changing nationality and citizenship in the blink of an eye, but the repercussions of those events affected more than just their documents. Matteo Brazzi is not a fascist because he believes in fascism or Mussolini but because, as a good businessman, he understands when the wind is changing. However, his actions affect other people, and when his office in Trieste is bombed, he takes the chance to leave the city and move to Cittanova in Istria, hoping that the past won’t come running after him again. But will that be enough?

As a background to this story, there’s Italy between the two wars. It’s a part of history I know a great deal about, growing up with my mother’s anecdotes (both in 1936 near Montecassino). The arrogance of the fascist is an old story to me, but I was curious to know more about Istria and that part of Italy barely mentioned in history books. His Most Italian City by Margaret Walker describes, without getting into gory details, what happened in daily routines of people living in Istria, of the ethnic cleansing the fascists tried to apply in the name of Italian purity. But this story is never disgusting, although Matteo Brazzi is not a nice character, and from a woman's point of view, his behavior towards everyone is indeed disgusting. Despite him, this is a great story, where violence is only implied most of the time, but with the fascists involved, you always know it’s there.

Deb B

Great story, good character understanding and a great insight into the history of the area. A good read.