The Tuscan Villa: Utterly compelling World War 2 Italian historical fiction (Daughters of Italy)

Italy, 1945. As war rages through Europe, a crumbling family villa becomes a vital safe space for the people of Cortona during the war. But that sanctuary is lost the day its owner, Vivi, mysteriously vanishes… Manhattan, 1953. Francesca feels smothered by lace as she tries on wedding dresses in an uptown boutique. Can she really start a new life with her fiancé without first answering the questions she has about her childhood in Italy? Confronted with the news that the bougainvillea-covered villa she grew up in is for sale, and the lavish gardens her father designed and cultivated are destined to be razed, she buys a plane ticket and doesn’t look back. She can’t stand by and watch it all turn to rubble. Fran chokes back a sob as she finds the gardens wild and overgrown and the once-pristine follies crumbling under the baking sun. But the lingering scent of the Italian basil from the kitchen garden brings Fran closer to the father she lost.