The Italian Romance
by Joanne Carroll

Lillian has had to make the hardest decision a woman can make. In war-torn Australia in 1947, she is forced to choose between her baby daughter and the love of her life, an Italian prisoner-of-war. She flees to Italy to make a new life in an act of love that haunts her for fifty years.

Set between rural New South Wales and Italy, The Italian Romance examines the choices we make and their unexpected consequences. In this moving novel about families and the different faces of love, Joanne Carroll reminds us what it is to be human.

This book was a BRA selection. Beautifully written, three stories take us on a journey through the life of Lillian. From her sadness and courage as a young woman, to her melancholy existance as a widow in Italy meeting her daughter for the first time since she was a baby. Can you love two men? Can we be happy if we give up our children for love? Difficult questions are explored in this novel with thoughtfulness. A lovely story with an ending full of hope.