The Lost Gift to the Italian Island by Barbara Josselsohn

Books

If you keep up with my book reviews, you will know that back in May I read Secrets Of The Italian Island By Barbara Josselsohn. A stunning World War Two romance novel set in Italy in 1943 and the present day. Well, today I’m back with the next book in the series – The Lost Gift to the Italian Island. Read on for my review.

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island by Barbara Josselsohn - Book Review

Book Description

Italy, 1943. With tears in her eyes, Giulia listens out for the sound of bombers flying overhead and thinks of the baby growing inside of her. Through the fabric of her lace dress her fingers touch the cold bullets carefully sewn into the seams. Luca might never forgive her, but she has to do this…

New York, present day. When Tori Coleman discovers that her mother was adopted, her whole world shatters. Jeremy, her boyfriend, wants to get married, but how can Tori commit when she doesn’t know who she truly is? The only clue to the identity of her biological family is a mysterious postcard with a photograph of an ornate wedding dress her grandmother Giulia made, which she’s told was gifted to a museum on an Italian island…

Tori arrives on Parissi Island, surrounded by turquoise Mediterranean waters, with the sweet smell of orange blossom filling the air. She soon finds the museum and learns that Giulia was Jewish, and secretly lived there during World War Two. She thought her grandmother abandoned her mother, but was she forced to leave and give up her child?

Just as she’s getting closer to answers, an unexpected call from Jeremy stops Tori in her tracks. As he passionately urges her to find out the truth, suddenly Tori wishes he were in Italy by her side, ready to propose again.

But then Tori is shocked to find bullets sewn into the lining of one of Giulia’s dresses and a notebook claiming she did something terrible during World War Two. Will the secrets in her family help her follow her own heart, or send her home from Italy with it finally broken forever?

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What I Thought

The Lost Gift to the Italian Island is simply a beautiful book. I love the mysterious feel that is continued from Secrets of the Italian Island along with the strong characters. This book focuses on the middle sister Giulia’s story. I recommend you read the first book about the eldest sister before this one, so you get the background of how the sisters ended up on the Island before the Nazis invaded.

Guilia escapes the island but her plans don’t go the way she thought and she ends up on another island. With no way of getting off, Guilia gets close to the family who take her in. But sometimes all is not what it seems and this is the very case in this book.

Further on in the book, I found myself quick to judge Giulia, but you cannot imagine what she went through leaving her child. Present-day Tori is finding out lots of info about her long-lost grandmother, but is it true?

I found myself hooked and could not put it down! The way the present-day 2019 is intertwined with the events back in 1943 is excellent writing! Now I’m eager to read the last book in the Sisters of War series, when we are given the story of the youngest sister Emilia.