Luca Benedetto joined the local partisans to retaliate against the Germans, his father Sabatino was taken to fight for them in Russia, and his mother Maria hasn’t heard from him since. Like most Italians, he’s horrified by what they do to innocent people, and he’s determined to make them suffer. His girlfriend Sarah Zinsi is Jewish, he knows the area around Lake Como and the mountains well and she’s hiding in a remote cabin.

His mother Maria, lives in the village, her neighbors house has been taken over by a group of German soldiers and they demand that she cooks for them every evening. The Germans start entering her house without knocking, and she’s worried they will hear something, and she has Rebecca Zinsi hiding in her attic.

Italy is in turmoil, Mussolini's government has been over thrown, he’s been taken to an island near Sardinia, as the allies get closer, and the Germans violence towards the locals escalates. Most people support the partisan fighters, including the local priest, everyone's tense, and Luca despite his disability, he wants to get Sarah, and her mother to safety in Switzerland.

Once Night Falls, is about the Italian people's suffering during WW II, and fighting back against the Germans, and a lot of this happened during the night. Under the cover of darkness, the partisans and locals did what they could to make life difficult for the Germans, small acts of defiance, and they showed incredible courage and determination. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, another well written book by Roland Merullo, and fours stars from me.

Based on true events Once Night Falls is the story of how the resistance began in Italy. Going into this novel I knew very little about what happened in Italy during WWII. The author did a very good job showing what every day life was like under the Nazis once Mussolini was taken out of power. However, the wide cast of characters was easy to confuse and some story lines seemed irrelevant because in the end they were not resolved. I normally really enjoy multiple POV stories but this one missed the mark for me.

If you want to learn more about the Italian resistance or just love WWII fiction I would say to give this book a shot.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

I really enjoyed Once Night Falls. It’s not often that you find a WWII historical fiction novel taking place in Italy. I loved that the story was told from different perspectives. I admired the will of Luca and Don Claudio and the sacrifice that Maria made.

I enjoyed how I could easily tell how the different perspectives wove together to connect all of the details.

The only reason this does not review five stars from me is that I wanted to know what happened to Rebecca and Sarah after they crossed the border to Austria and what exactly Luca did for Masso.

DNF at 52%. I tried really hard to give this book a chance because the writing was so great, but it just wasn’t going anywhere. Too many POVs that didn’t quite align soon enough. And I couldn’t see that the author had a strong ending in mind.

Once Night falls is set in the Northern part of Italy during WWII, at the turning of the fascist regime when Mussolini is kidnapped and then "rescued" by the Germans.

Although the book is interesting from the beginning it is also rather difficult to follow because there is a there is a plethora of short chapters describing different characters that are difficult to tell apart at the beginning. It al starts with a scene describing one of the protagonists (Luca) watching the bodies of "i martiri di Piazzale Loreto". This is one of the key scenes that ties in the stories of the different characters in the book, The book then goes on describing different characters amongst which an Italian fixer and a German Nazi opportunist (Skorzeny) who are all in some way involved in the kidnapping and retrieving of Mussolini and his subsequent reinstatement in the "Republic of Salo".

Wow, hold your horses, what do you mean, "the subsequent kidnapping of Mussolini?" How can that be? Mussolini was kidnapped by his former Italian associates in September 1943 while the "strage di Piazzale Loreto" took place on 10 August 1944. This is a major error in the chronology of the book. Might be one of those "literary liberties" of the writer, but then I would expect to find an explanation in an afterword. Well, I looked in vain. Yes, the Epilogue states that Mussolini was strung up by his ankles from the gas station at the same piazza 8 months after the executions on the same square, but I wonder if he even realises that this makes the chronology of his story impossible.

There are other little anachronistic details in the book,, like when the narrator tells us that "gas was as precious as silver, then" or when the German guard who stops the Italian hustler Silvio in his lime green 1942 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Convertible tells him "I'm a car lover. This is a classic". Really? a one year old car a classic? Off course, nowadays we would consider it a classic, but one year after the car was introduced. I wonder if it was even possible to buy such a car during the war and have it shipped to Italy.

Anyway, the book was an interesting enough read even though I found the ending a bit abrupt and not well worked out at all. Some of the storylines remained unfinished and I find the ending of the book with an epilogue in which some historical facts are given a weakness.

More 3 stars then 4, mainly because of the historical errors and the weak ending.
I thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It's nicely plotted and the storytelling is on point. It sheds light on how the people of Italy dealt with WWII in a way we haven't seen in most of the novels in the genre. Thanks for the ARC.

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Amazon First Reads (November 2019) and Netgalley, Roland Merullo and Lake Union Publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to add Roland Merullo to my favorites list and to recommend his works to friends and family. He paints history with delicate attention to detail and shows the general Italian people during WWII in a well researched and a much more equitable way than has been passed down to the 21st century.

I am excited to see more historical novels representing the citizens of overwhelmed European countries during the World Wars. History is written by the victors, or so we are told, but those silent multitudes controlled by fear and hunger have finally gotten a voice.

This novel is peopled with citizens of the small towns around Lake Como in northern Italy. Merullo portrays these people overwhelmed by the German Military Machine in a realistic light - we know the folks who run the bakery, the fishermen and the gardeners and see clearly the pressures they lived under every day. Sarah and Luca are the future, of course, full of courage and hope, but I think my favorite characters were Maria and Father Claudio, those of a generation two removed who see with a clearer focus the world and what it will take to survive there.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. Historical Fiction is my absolute favourite genre. This is a well written book. Well written book on suffering and perseverance in Mussolini's Italy.

This is my second Roland Merullo book, the first one being Breakfast with Buddha. I really enjoy Mr. Merullo's writing and the way he weaves the story.

The characters in Once Night Falls are multidimensional and human, keeping you interested in what makes each of them tick. The historical aspect was interesting enough without bogging you down with minute details, making me curious enough to want to read more about that particular time and place.

I would recommend this book to WWII historical fiction enthusiasts, who don't mind a little romance in their story to keep things interesting. As it stands, it's a really good read, but I wouldn't mind a sequel to see through some of the plots.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC

It's Italy, 1943, when Benito Mussolini, Il Duce [leader] has taken power and is enforcing rule with thugs. He is welcoming the Nazis to his homeland, and professing loyalty to Herr Hitler. Mussolini has easily overtaken Vittorio Emanuele III, a pitifully small and hopelessly mild-mannered royal, who inspires no fear whatsoever.

Meet Luca Benedetto, born with one sightless eye and a weakened left arm, but who is brave and determined using the abilities that he does have. He's a young man in love with Sarah Zinzi. Luca remembers a time before Facism when there were problems, yes, but also a dignity and sanity to their lives. He works with the partisans to end the treachery, secrecy, suffering, indignity and death of the Italian people.

Meet Luca's mother, Maria, who is hiding Sarah's mother in her attic, because both Sarah and Rebecca are Jews. Maria lives in constant fear of being discovered, especially now that Nazis have taken over Rebecca's house next door.

Meet Don Claudio DeMarco, rector of the church of Sant'Abbondio. A partisan sympathizer whose anxiety is at a fever pitch. He wonders about changes since the war began. The churches were as open as they'd ever been. Much less traffic on the roads, many more military vehicles. Half or a third of the food that had been available, at three or four times the price.

This novel of WWII Italy and Mussolini had me turning page after page as I felt the anxiety and the anguish of these courageous people. This novel is based closely on actual historical happenings of this period, and is immensely readable. This novel spoke to my heart.

I read this EARC courtesy of Edelweiss and Lake Union Publ. pub date 12/01/19

I love historical fiction, I don't read it anywhere near as often as I should. And it's when I've read and finished a fantastic example that I really get the bug and want to read more.
Well, THIS one certainly fits that category. Such a well written, in depth, evocative story. And unusual in its setting as being post war Italy. We all know what happened in our own countries, but I'll be honest, I just never thought about anywhere else. For that alone it's worth picking up, but the story was told so beautifully, I just got lost in it. Now THAT is exactly what I require for it to be a full 5 star novel. Seriously......the author nailed it!
Thank you to the author, the publisher and netgalley for my arc. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre, so I was absolutely thrilled to be able to read this book. This one was a really good read. It was well plotted and well written.

I enjoy historical fiction a lot,especially the world war two era, but I have never before read about the impact the war had on the Italian people. This had to be so hard because they were truly a nation divided. It is very obvious that the author did a.lot of research. The book is well written and the characters very believable. This is probably my favorite book I have ever read about this time in our history. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction. It does not disappoint.

Good read. I enjoyed reading it. It was very well written and flowed well. The story itself was interesting. Based post war era . Lovely location and a nice book cover

A gripping novel of the wedge that held the Jewish people. Hilter on one side and Mussolini on the other. The underlying story of love and sacrifice pulls at your emotions. Evil may always exist but love is eternal.

We most likely forget that the Italians suffered as much under the Nazi occupation, toward the end of the war in Europe, as other captive countries, even though they were supposedly allies of Hitler. This is a very intimate portrait of beautifully drawn characters and their terror, suffering, and perseverance.

My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect WW2 historical fiction -- if you feel like reading a WW2 story like you've never heard before -- this is the book for you!! This is the first book I have read by Roland and I have become an instant fan. His writing proves how much research he did -- which I always love to see in a historical fiction book!! Woman heroes - love story and war!!

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, and was excited to learn more about how things played out in Italy during the conflict. However I found this novel to be a tad too detached for me - there were just too many characters, so you didn't feel any real emotional attachment to any of them. It was hard to engage with the plot, as it felt very weighed down with intense historical detail, rather than focusing on the human experience.

That is not to say this is not a good book, just that it is not the sort of book I normally go for. Merullo's talent as a writer is clear, and if you prefer historical fiction with a great deal of detail, you would likely enjoy this.

I got my copy of this book through NetGalley but then discovered it had already been released and is available through Kindle Unlimited.
This is not my first book describing what the citizens of Italy experienced during World War II, but it did spend a healthy amount of time studying Mussolini, his treatment by the King and Nazis, along with the populace wondering where he was and what would happen next. There was a core group of characters to follow through the many pages, thank goodness, but there were far too many characters for a cohesive narrative.
It's a good read, but the ending was abrupt and not well done.

ARC through NetGalley