Publication Date: July 11, 2023
Moving between the Second World War and the present, an exhilarating debut novel in the vein of Jennifer Robson, Kate Quinn, and Natasha Lester, about two women, decades apart, whose fates converge in Florence, Italy.
Only fourteen, Stella Infuriati is the youngest member of her town’s resistance network during World War II. Risking torture and death, she relays messages, supplies, and weapons to partisan groups in the Tuscan hills. Her parents have no idea, consumed instead by love and fear for their beloved son, Achille, a courier and unofficial mechanic for a communist partisan brigade.
Then, after 1945, Stella seemingly vanishes from the records. Her name and story are overshadowed by the tragic death of her brother—until a young writer arrives in Tuscany in the spring of 2019, uncovering long-buried secrets.
Fleeing an emotionally abusive marriage and a lonely life on an isolated estate, Tori MacNair has come to Florence, the beautiful city her grandmother taught her to love, to build a new life. As she digs into her family history with the help of Marco, a handsome lawyer, Tori starts to uncover secrets of the past—truths that stretch back decades, to a young woman who risked everything to save her world . . .
Tori MacNair walks away from an unhappy marriage to start over in Florence, Italy, which is exactly what her grandmother would have wanted her to do.
Author Kat Devereaux creates two strong main characters set apart by decades in Escape to Florence. MacNair investigates her family history and stumbles upon the mysterious Stella Infuriati, who secretly served in the Resistance during World War II.
Both storylines are equally fascinating. Finally free from an emotionally abusive husband, MacNair focuses on writing a book based on her grandmother. When her editor advises her to spice it up a bit, she goes digging through piles of her grandmother’s personal papers, where she stumbles on a long-buried secret.
The second storyline highlighting young Stella’s role as a courier and somewhat strained relationship with her parents was brought to life against the detailed backdrop of the war’s impact on the Italians.
Ultimately, MacNair must resolve her own loose ends before she can move forward to a future with an attractive Italian lawyer and a greater appreciation for her grandmother’s legacy.
Escape to Florence delivers a well-crafted story rich with historical details and a woman’s search for happiness.
Kat Devereaux was born near Edinburgh, and has lived in the United States, Russia, France, Chile, Germany and the Czech Republic before finally settling in Italy. She is a writer and translator with a special focus on Italian Literature.
