The Longest Echo
Have you ever started a book and known right from the beginning that it was going to be a five star read? From the very first few pages I knew that The Longest Echo by Eoin Dempsey was going to be one among one of my favorite books this year. This is a riveting story that is based on the real life and horrifying tragedy that occurred in the cemetery at Casaglia in Monte Sole, Italy in September 1944.
Occupied Italy, 1944. In the mountain regions south of Bologna, Liliana Nicoletti’s family finds escaped POW James Foley behind German lines. Committed to the anti-Fascist cause, they deliver him to a powerful band of local partisans. But when the SS launches a brutal attack against the Resistance, Liliana’s peaceful community is destroyed. Alone and thrown together by tragedy, James and Liliana fight together as Monte Sole burns. Forging an unbreakable bond, they know their only hope of survival is to make it to the Allied lines.
Twelve years later, fate reunites Liliana, newly widowed, and James, now a journalist for a New York magazine. Liliana reveals to him the obsession that has haunted her since the massacre at Monte Sole: finding and bringing to justice the SS officer who ordered her family killed. James has a revelation too. He might know how to hunt the man down. Joining forces once more, and increasingly drawn to each other, Liliana and James discover new levels of conspiracy on a journey that leads them to Argentina―and to a choice that will change their lives forever.
I absolutely loved every page of this story, and I did not want to see it end. The first half of the book is a fast paced thrill ride that takes you back to the tragic Nazi occupation and massacre in Monte Sole. I was constantly holding my breath and my heart rate increased as I read about Liliana and James’s heartbreaking escape from Monte Sole. From there I was transported to the early 1980s, and the adventure continues as they work to unmask a group of Nazi’s hiding in Argentina.
As always, I am personally floored to be reminded that so many Nazi war criminals were not punished. The last half of the book examines the ways the Nazi war criminals escaped, the governments that hid them, and the apathy that allowed them to remain free. We are also cautioned that Nazi’s are not so far removed from our own ideals and “it’s harder to realize that there a little bit of that same monster in all of us, and the only real way to stop that monster is to make sure those with the ideas to destroy that which is good don’t attain power.”
From the beginning of the story I cherished each character and how real they were. I was inspired by their strength and will to survive and determination to seek justice for the many who were massacred that day in Monte Sole. This book is also a wonderful tribute to their legacy. Their strength and determination should never be forgotten.
Dempsey also has a remarkable way with detailed imagery. I felt as if I was right there with Liliana in the far outskirts of the Italian mountainous countryside, then transported to busy Manhattan, and finally whisked off to the mountains of Argentina.
The Longest Echo was a phenomenally researched story, and brings you into the life and horrors of living under the Nazi regime and highlights the partisan heroes who tried to hold them back. Those who love this genre will appreciate that this is a World War II book set in Italy, instead of the more frequently told stories from Germany or France.
This was my first time picking up one of Dempsey’s books, and now I’m going back and reading all her previous publications!
