Our Darkest Night

Jennifer Robson is a must read author for me, so I cannot tell you how excited I was to receive an advance reader copy of Our Darkest Night to review. Robson has written several powerful novels set during wartime and her latest doesn’t disappoint. From the time I picked up this book I could not put it down, and when I finished, I just had to sit in awe. This story evoked so many emotions from tears of sadness to tears of joy, and I can only hope to do justice in this review as this is my favorite Jennifer Robson book to date!

It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.

Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.

But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.

As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart . . .

Antonia (known as Nina) was really a fascinating character in the novel. She had a comfortable upbringing while studying medicine with her father, and then her life was upended and she had to leave her family in Venice in order to survive. While it wasn’t easy for her to adjust to her new life living on the Gerardi farm (the labor and shortage of food), Nina threw her heart and soul into life with the Gerardi’s, and found herself fully enmeshed and caring deeply for each member of the family, and they in turn fully adopted her. I think the author handled this transformation within Antonia well, as she became the competent, strong and confident young woman that she was by the end of the novel.

As for the romance between Nina and Nico, it really was swoon worthy in a sweet sort of way. The romance didn’t overpower the novel, but complimented the wartime atmosphere. I liked the fact that Nina and Nico had time to get to know one another, otherwise I would have been tempted to believe that they were swept away in a romance that was started by the wartime atmosphere. As the two got to know each other they learned about each other’s dreams and history, which made their relationship all the more endearing.

The plot moves with speed, brilliantly demonstrates the perils of falling in love during a time of war, and the characters’ growth and changes are believable and satisfying. Robson's secondary characters were fully developed and added dimension to the story, and I found myself just as attached to them as I was the main characters and shed quite a few tears for them too.

There was still darkness in a story that was full of light. The story addressed the evil horrors of Hitler’s regime and the unspeakable mandates forced upon the Jewish people, while Nina found herself in the middle of an old rivalry between Nico and an SS officer. This rivalry thrusts Nina and the Gerardi family into the spotlight, and keeps the reader turning the pages and biting their nails.

Overall, historical fiction fans need to read Our Darkest Night. It was a fantastic read and anyone who enjoys a highly atmospheric setting with a good helping of romance will love this one. This period in history is tragic, but it’s also compelling.

Thank you WilliamMorrow for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.