A family saga set in Italy from 1870-1950, with a large cast of characters and which unspools much like a film charting the family’s decline (much like in The Leopard) over these tumultuous years. The novel opens with a photo of the Ducati family at ease in the garden of their castle, the Castle of Cortalba, Monferrato, and then we follow the various members over the years against a background of political upheavals, world wars, changing fortunes, the rise of fascism, and with real life characters making their appearance from time to time. A series of further photos add verisimilitude to the narrative, which is, in fact based on the author’s own family history. There’s much drama here, although the rather flat and unemotional style makes for a surprisingly unemotional reading experience and although I enjoyed the book I wasn’t really drawn into the character’s lives. I also found the frequent shifts between first and third person disorientating and didn’t feel it added anything to the narrative. What I did really enjoy, however, was the panoramic portrait of Italy’s history reflected through the trials and tribulations of one family, and found that as a piece of social history it succeeds very well.

A well written and engrossing novel. I liked the style of writing, the fleshed out cast of characters and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Anna Lawton has written a beautiful book of place, time, and character. Lawton includes powerful description at no expense to plotting.