I had no preconceptions starting this book as I had never read Julian Gray before and knew nothing about this book. It was slow to start, and I found it hard to keep track of the characters, but I am so glad I stuck with it. A son is visiting his dying father and has unanswered questions about his mother and his upbringing. His fathers were gay men at a time when homosexuality was illegal and his upbringing was unusual. He had questions about his mother and found it difficult to ask his father outright as his father was prone to keeping secrets. The book is well researched and the gives vivid details of life during the second world war, particularly the fate of the people of Naples and I found myself caught up in the life and loves of Louis and the questions his son needed answering. Intriguing book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I got this through you all! Started reading the book and then figured out it was about relationships between two men! Not that I have a thing for this kind of book I just couldn't read it. It goes against everything so believe in.!

2* This was a DNF for me, 2 chapters in, due to the clunky writing. I wanted to enjoy this as a Brit who's grown up with LGBTQIA people around her, but this just felt too slow, boring and the writing wasn't polished enough to retain my interest.

Thanks for the chance to try it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I requested this book based not only on the subject matter, but also because the cover was so dang beautiful.

I'm still not 100% sure how i feel about this book. I wanted to love it, but it was really slow for me.