“Narrated with immediacy, the book makes palpable its complex themes of collaboration versus resistance. Amid widespread collusion, including by the Church, some are compelled to resist the Nazis, as with a prison guard who becomes René’s friend. And René’s “secret weapon” is sabotaging soldiers’ boots, demonstrating that even small acts of resistance matter. With most of Le Case’s inhabitants refusing to acknowledge the horror in their midst, ideas of collective responsibility and guilt also hang over the story. A poignant tribute to the memories of victims of the Nazi regime, the historical novel The Bishop’s Villa is set in an Italian seminary that served as a prison during the Holocaust.”
Read the full review in Foreward Reviews.
