Description
A forgotten tragedy of World War II, an injustice and a memory that still hurts.
London, 1940. Jacopo Abramo Errera, a young Venetian Jew, has left Italy to escape the raids of the fascist government. However, after Mussolini’s declaration of war, the British government labels him as an enemy and collaborator of the regime. His is the fate of many innocents who have reached the United Kingdom: Churchill has ordered the rounding up of Italians, Germans, and Austrians without distinction. Thus, after a brief period of detention in a prison camp, over a thousand men are boarded onto the Arandora Star, a cruise ship ready to head across the ocean to remove the threat. Harriet is part of the Aliens Advisory Committee, the commission tasked with judging the so-called “enemy aliens.” She participated in Jacopo’s interrogation and saw the innocence in his eyes, as well as the soul of a good and sincere man. She fell in love with him immediately and wants to save him. Thus begins a desperate and difficult race against time. Wolfgang is a sailor of the U-boat who aims torpedoes at the Arandora Star. He clutches a worn copy of Moby Dick and spends his days submerged thinking that his commander, Gunther Prien, has transformed into Ahab, the mad captain of the Pequod. In the heart of the tragedy, when Prien’s crew is ready to fire at the ship, the fate of the three protagonists overlaps. Chiara Clini, making her debut in the novel, constructs a historical fresco of great scope, a moving and intense multi-voiced tale.
