The Light Over Lake Como
This suspenseful tale set in Italy in the final days of World War II is told in four alternating voices. Two years before the story opens, Sarah, a young Jewish woman, escaped to Switzerland with her aging mother when three months pregnant. Her fiancé Luca helped them escape, then remained in Italy as a partisan fighting the Fascists. Enzo Riccio, Mussolini’s close confidant and assistant, has lost his former zeal for Il Duce but still lives in his Lake Como retreat. Wealthy Silvio Merino secretly supports the partisans under his casual façade. Their lives intertwine as Mussolini’s power fades. Hitler, clearly losing the war in spring 1945, has vowed that German troops will fight to the last man, and erratic Benito Mussolini shares his view.
Roland Merullo maintains the suspense throughout his fresh angle on the war, capturing the challenges and beauty of the landscape from Lake Como up to the Swiss border, and down to Milan. The four characters are strongly drawn and conflicted. Sarah’s daughter, now 18 months old, has never seen her father. After Sarah’s mother dies, she is desperate to find Luca and solemnize their marriage, but he’s hiding out in the mountains and could be dead or have found another woman. Luca hates the Fascists with a passion and will take on any assignment to bring them down, regardless of risk. Enzo’s conscience plagues him: what is the right course? In contrast, Silvio is driven by his strong dictum: be a good man.
There is much to admire about in The Light Over Lake Como: the meticulous research, compelling structure, emotional intensity, and powerful, descriptive writing. This novel helps readers understand why Italy still has such complicated politics. World War II left its mark. Highly recommended.
