Procure The Sound Of The Hours Presented By Karen Campbell Issued As Publication

do you say about a book that is this good It is a book to read at one sitting if possible, I certainly could not out it down,
The story is set in Paisley and Barga amongst the ScottishItalian community, Coincidentally, I was recently one of the hosts of the Great Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, and one of the tapestries read “Barga, the most Scottish Town in Italy”.
What the Tapestry did not tell you is why, Barga was one of the heartlands of Mussolini and his Fascists, It was a town that the Nardinis, the Nutinis and the Capaldis left because it was not a safe place, This is one of the central points of the story because the heroines family, at least those who stayed in Barga, were solidly fascist, while those who left for Paisley were not.

The story begins in Paisley, with an old woman dying and her family gathering around her to

provide solace and comfort, It then switches to Italy at that point in the Second World War where the Allied Forces have invaded at Anzio and are fighting their way up the spine of Italy.
The Nazis, under FieldMarshall Kesselring are digging in along the Gothic Line, preparing to stem the tide of the Allied advance, To complicate matters further, the King of Italy has declared for the Allies and Mussolini has deposed him, setting up a republic in the Nazioccupied area of Italy.
Italy descends into a Civil War with partisans fighting against the Nazis and the Fascists fighting under Kesselrings command, Barga finds itself in the frontline of the battle,
This is when we meet Vittoria Vita Guidi and her sister Francesca Cesca who are natives of Barga and their cousin Joe Guiseppe from Paisley as they get caught up in the battle.
Vita works for the local priest and gets caught up in dealing with refugees, and getting Jewish families and children to places of safety, She also makes the journey south to Lucca, through dangerous territory, in order to make sure that her grandmother is safe,
It is in Lucca that she meets Frank Chappell, an American soldier, whose regiment has been spearheading the drive north, Frank is what was astonishingly known in the American army of the time as a Buffalo soldier, This was the name given to black American soldiers by either the Comanche or the Apache I would have to check Dee Browns “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” to be sure which, and was given to black soldiers because of the colour of their skin and their tight, curly hair.
The name stuck in the segregated US army, Black soldiers, of course, had white officers, These were the soldiers who, on returning home, became one of the motors of the Civil Rights Movement,
All of these tensions are present in the novel, But the motor is the love story between Vita and Frank, from their meeting in Lucca to their parting in Barga a few months later, It is a story about how the Guidi and Chappell families become interlocked, and how that interlocking finds its resolution at the deathbed of the old lady in Paisley.

I am not going to tell you anything more about the plot, because that would spoil the book, My advice is simple. You should give yourselves an enormous treat, and make sure that you read “The Sound of the Hours”,
Well before the end I was enjoying this immensely, not only for the story but for the insight into life in beleaguered Italy in, and although it did take me a little time to appreciate, it certainly deserves rereading for the buildup of the story and the writing of it.
I've read half a dozen of Karen Campbell's earlier novels Goodreads listing is confusing possibly this is the best, The Sound of the Hours is set in Italy during the latter years of the war, It is told from the viewpoint of Italian Vita and American soldier Frank, I really enjoyed this book, I found the story very unique and kept me enthralled from start to finish, The characters were likeable and I was eager to see what would happen to them, I had not been aware of what the situation was like in Italy during the war and I found that aspect very enjoyable, It is clear that book is well researched and thought out,

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC Read The Full on sitelinkSohinee Reads amp s



The first thing that I noticed right away as I began reading the book was Campbells writing style.
She has the kind of writing style that makes you live and breathe the same atmosphere as the characters do, Its given that Karen invests more time in “showing” rather than telling the story but there are some downsides to the “Show and Tell” did you catch the reference rule too.
For instance, the length of the book, Its INTIMIDATING

If youre familiar with James Joyces writing and have read A Portrait of an Artist as A Young Man you would find that Karen adopts somewhat of a similar narrative technique, i.
e. , the stream of consciousness. Vittoria is the central character until Frank is introduced into the storyline, Vittoria is about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday when she sees all these clues here and there that her country is going to be torn apart really soon.


The backdrop of the story is thes and features the Italian landscape in all its glory and is most probably set in Barga, Tuscany because there are numerous references of the Tuscan sun its apage book so, I have forgotten some of the details.


The book largely has the WWII as the backdrop to the developing romance between Vita and Frank, Frank is a black soldier who joined the Americas Buffalo soldiers, He is constantly subjected to discrimination based on his colour, race and almost everything he does, Campbell has highlighted the racial and cultural discrimination throughout the novel, Campbell writes an interracial romance in a time when there were too many societal boundaries and interracial relationships were frowned upon,

Speaking about this book is difficult because there are so many elements to it, The setting of the novel definitely stood out to me, The narrative is just beautiful, I dont have any words to express how I felt about Campbells writing, I havent read too many novels set around the World War II and The Sounds of the Hours is probably the third book I read which is set around WWII.
If you have read The English Patient, you would know that it features an Italian villa and has so many different characters against the backdrop of WWII.
The Sound of the Hours follows somewhat of a similar route except that the story focuses mainly on Frank and Vitta, There arent too many supporting characters who shine in the narrative and that is perhaps something I would have loved to see,



The book is lengthy for sure and it does take a while to get to the point but it is supposed to be this way.
How are you going to depict the setting and create the atmosphere of WWII if you dont draw it out Its a historical fiction and the historical part is in focus rather than the characters.
I did feel that some events were unnecessarily stretched out and others which needed to be focused were skipped on, So, theres that. But other than this I really loved reading this novel

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review


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