his beautifully written historical novel set in the dangerous Italy of World War One kept me riveted to the page. The story involves Rebecca, a young Australian war correspondent, who is in Brindisi with her handsome husband, Jack, who is also a journalist. When Jack sets off to chase stories, Rebecca wants to advance her career and she is anxious to write articles about the Royal Australian Navy which is stationed in Italy. Although she dislikes Sandro, an Italian-American photographer staying with his grandmother, at first, they start working on stories together and she soon finds herself increasingly attracted to him. The problem is that they are both very Catholic and Rebecca is married…
This was a moving love story and it became more exciting as Rebecca and Sandro look for a possible traitor in their midst and journey into war-ridden territory, as Italy is under siege from Austria. It’s also extremely well-researched with information about the interesting background to the novel and further books to read in the Author’s Note at the back of the book. Although I liked Christianity being central to the lives of the main characters, I also found it a problem that Rebecca was married and attracted to someone else at almost the beginning of the book. However, this did create great dramatic conflict.

I am looking forward to reading more books by Pamela Hart.


I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

This book was set in Italy during the First World War. Rebecca is in Italy with her husband Jack during the First World War and they are journalists from Australia reporting on the war. While Jack is away reporting on the resistance movement against the Austrian’s Rebecca struggles to work on her own her own as a war correspondent. She teams up with a photographer to give her a better chance in a male dominated field of journalists clamoring to get the best stories.

A very enjoyable read! Well written and clearly well researched. A very authentic story with realistic characters, locations and story line. Look forward to reading more of Pamela Hart's novels. Highly recommended.

Book blurb...

Inspired by the life of the world's first woman war correspondent, Australia's Louise Mack, A Letter from Italy is the most sweeping love story yet by Pamela Hart.

1917, Italy. Australian journalist Rebecca Quinn is an unconventional woman. At the height of World War I, she has given up the safety of her Sydney home for the bloody battlefields of Europe, following her journalist husband to the frontline as a war correspondent in Italy.

Reporting the horrors of the Italian campaign, Rebecca finds herself thrown together with American-born Italian photographer Alessandro Panucci, and soon discovers another battleground every bit as dangerous and unpredictable: the human heart.

A passionate and poignant love story set on the beautiful Italian coast by the bestselling author of The Soldier's Wife and The War Bride.

Pamela Hart is an award-winning author for adults and children. She has a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney. Under the name Pamela Freeman she wrote the historical novel The Black Dress, which won the NSW Premier's History Prize for 2006. Pamela is also well known for her fantasy novels for adults, published by Orbit worldwide, the Castings Trilogy, and her Aurealis Award-winning novel Ember and Ash. Pamela lives in Sydney with her husband and their son, and teaches at the Australian Writers' Centre. A Letter from Italy is her thirtieth book, a stand-alone novel set in the same time period as The Soldier’s Wife and The War Bride, which has been short-listed for Epic Romantic Novel in the UK’s prestigious Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) 2017 Awards

My thoughts…

After reading The War Bride in 2016 I have been longing to read this latest story by Pamela Hart. A Letter from Italy did not disappoint.

War time in any country will always have tales of lost loves and new love. To write a story, based in Italy, and with forbidden love at it’s core (combined with a strong and independent Australian woman) is a perennial plot and evidence of Pamela’s prolific storytelling (book #13, I think).

This story will tug at your heart strings and have you wishing Rebecca and a certain Italian man would stop doing the honourable thing and just express their love for one another.

Inspired by the world's first woman war correspondent, this novel demonstrates the difficulties encountered by women during wartime in a foreign country.

My Thoughts


‘What was a girl from Sydney doing standing on a barbed-wired beach in Italy in the darkness of night with a Venetian smuggler and a photographer from New York?’

I was ecstatic when I received this book to review and now having turned the last page, my sigh is a contented one. Having read Pamela Hart books before, my expectations were high and she did not let me down. A Letter from Italy is historical fiction at its best.

Inspired by the world's first woman war correspondent, this tale is real and heart breaking, a moving tribute to her courage and strength. A Letter from Italy tells the story of Rebecca Quinn, abandoned by her husband, choosing to remain in Italy to continue corresponding war news, overcoming many an obstacle in the process. This truly is a testimony to the courage and persistence of many women during these challenging times. When women had little to no rights (especially in Italy at the time), she stands her ground taking on men and inspiring those around her.

‘For the sake of every girl in the world who might like to be a journalist, of every woman who wanted to stop writing about fashion and hairstyles, and engage with meatier stories, she had to succeed. She had to.’

However, there is much more to this story (as if that wasn’t enough) and it’s fast pace will keep you turning the pages. There is the stunning Italian coastline brought to life under an armada of warships. There is the war itself and the bravery undertaken by those both at the front and left behind. Read along as a traditional way of living is questioned and challenged and ultimately, must learn to evolve. And then there are the array of remarkable characters, adding real substance to the entire tale - from Nonna Rosa down to villagers escaping the bombing.

‘Did they have the right to expect women here to speak up, to agitate, to join the cause when they were part of a civilisation which had stayed unchanged for so long, and endured so successfully?’

Now I must take a moment to talk about the lovely Sandro/Al Baker. He is just wonderful in so many ways. Ineligible to fight, he learns to face the fallout both in America and Italy - but where exactly does he fit in? Is he Al or Sandro? Is he American or Italian? As he struggles to find his place both in society and within himself, he will take you on a photographic journey of these troubling times. Throughout it all you cannot help but admire and hope that his well deserved happy ending might indeed come.

‘He was so dependable. Solid and real and human, always calm. She could rely on him.’

A Letter from Italy just flows so beautifully. The characters are rich and engaging; the plot involves many intricately woven threads throughout; the descriptions of Italy and its people are memorable. This is such a great story which captivated me from the beginning and did not let go until the fitting conclusion. If you want great Australian historical fiction, then Pamela Hart is your ‘go to’.


This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

You know that you have read a good book when you finish and find yourself going back and trying to find out more about the story. I was so engrossed with “A Letter from Italy” particular as it is inspired by the world's first female war correspondent, Australia's Louise Mack.
Pamela Hart, brings to life the two main characters of Rebecca and Sandro. I felt myself drawn into their lives and feeling all their emotions. Using the backdrop of Italy in World War 1, emphasises the tense situation that the two characters find themselves in. However, it also highlights the attitude of men when Rebecca, a journalist on the front line of the war, tries to demonstrate her ability. It is in this situation, that you can understand Rebecca’s reluctance to work with Sandro, an Italian-American photographer.
I doubt anyone will read this and not be affected in some way. It will have you thinking about it, long after you have finished reading.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Full review to follow as a Manview on my blog Deanna's World, but wanted to say I greatly enjoy the depth of this book on women's issues and Hart's descriptive abilities. Reading this book is more like watching a movie than just reading the book. I have clearly visualized every scene, movement and heard every spoken statement. Hart's ability to describe scenes, characters, relationships, issues, etc. exceed's the abilities of most other authors I have read. A great read.

This is a moving story, a story of courage and strength the story of an Australian female journalist who arrives in Italy during World War 1 with her journalist husband and takes on the men and makes a mark in the world for herself and for females it shows how love can grow to such strength during times of intrigue and espionage of rations and hurt and heartbreak.

When journalist Rebecca Quinn is left alone in an Italian village while her husband is off chasing a story she now sees her chance to get off the woman’s pages of the paper and become a war correspondent, this takes a lot of courage to stand up to the men and the ways of the world. Rebecca is alone but knows the other journalists there and having meals at Nonna Rosa’s Trattoria brings her into contact with photographer Alessandro Panucci which starts a journey through some very rough paths and feelings that must be kept close to her heart.

Alessandro Panucci is an American born Italian he has come to Italy to try and do his bit for the war seeing as he can’t enlist in either countries he does what he knows best photographs and with a little push from his Nonna and Rebecca they join together as a team to make a couple of war correspondents who become very close in so many ways friends first but love grows as well, but this is a forbidden love.

This is my first story by MS Hart and won’t be my last beautifully written it pulled me in from the first page so much happening the setting is gorgeous the hardships of wartime and the tragedies that people go through and the descriptions of Sandro’s photos were so real it was like I was looking at them. And of course the moving love story that bought me to tears and then tears of joy at the end wartime brings so much heartache but there is always a shining light. Thank you for a fabulous story.