The Italian Wife

The Italian Wife

<b>The <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Russian Concubine</i> returns with a stunning new novel set in Mussolini€s Italy.</b><br><br>Isabella Berotti is an architect, helping to create showpieces that will reflect the glory of her country€s Fascist leaders. She is not a deeply political sort, but designing these buildings of grandiose beauty helps her forget about the pain she€s felt since her husband was murdered years ago. One of her greatest accomplishments is the clock tower in the town of Bellina, outside Rome.<br><br>But as she is admiring it one day, a woman approaches her, asking her to watch her ten-year-old daughter. Minutes later, to Isabella€s horror, the woman leaps to her death from that very clock tower.<br><br>There are photos of the woman right after the suicide, taken by Roberto Falco. A propaganda photographer for <i>Il Duce</i>,<i> </i>he is expected to show his nation in the most flattering light. But what Roberto and Isabella have seen reflects a more brutal reality, and in a place where everyone is watching and friends turn on friends to save themselves, their decision to take a closer look may be a dangerous mistake.