8th September 1943, and Claudette Blum and her father are among thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing over the Alps towards Italy. For the Italians have broken with Hitler and sued for peace, and here the Blums hope to find safety at last. But overnight the Nazis seize control and the country becomes a battleground - for the occupying German forces, the advancing allies, partisans, Jews in hiding and ordinary Italians simply trying to survive. Against this dramatic backdrop and through the lives of a multitude of beautifully drawn characters - a mercurial resistance leader, a priest, an Italian rabbi and his family, and a disillusioned Wehrmacht doctor - Mary Doria Russell tells the little-known story of those who sought refuge in Italy during the final phase of the Second World War, and of those who risked all to help them. It is a powerful, profoundly moving novel.

'It is Russell's triumph...a language of intimacy, comedy, punchy action and sheer sublimity...[her] magnificent novel is a testament on behalf of persecuted people, which observes its pledge to testify in a spirit of sympathy and gratitude' * GUARDIAN *
'The Holocaust became the catalyst for the human spirit's worst and finest hour, and Russell's book deals with both...captures history without being over-bearing and gives hope without sermonizing' * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *
'Ambitious, beautiful, tense and transforming' * KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of The Jane Austen Book Club *
'Busy, noisy and heartfelt...the action moves swiftly, with impressive authority, jostling dialogue, vibrant personalities and meticulous, unexpected historical detail. The intensity and intimacy of Russell's storytelling, her sharp character writing and fierce sense of humour bring fresh immediacy to this riveting WWII saga' * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) *
'Powerfully imagined...richly detailed...profoundly moving' * LOS ANGELES TIMES *

A paleoanthropologist known for her work on cannibalism and craniofacial biomechanics, Mary Doria Russell is the author of the acclaimed novels The Sparrow and Children of God, which earned her a number of awards and have been translated into thirteen languages. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband and their son. For more information on Mary Doria Russell and her books, see her website at www.marydoriarussell.info