Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2011
392 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
A sweeping tale of consequences spanning the 1930s to the 1990s, moving between fascist Italy and modern Ireland
In 1933, Bella Stuart leaves her quiet London life to move to Italy to tutor the child of a beautiful Jewish heiress and an elderly Italian aristocrat. Living at the family’s summer home, Bella's reserve softens as she comes to love her young charge, and find friendship with Maestro Edward, his enigmatic music teacher. But as the decade draws to an end and fascism tightens its grip on Europe, the fact that Alec is Jewish places his life in grave danger. Bella and Edward take the boy on a terrifying train journey out of Italy?one they have no reason to believe any of them will survive.
"Starred Review. A haunting novel that will stay with you long after you've put it down - or urged it upon a friend. It will appeal to readers who have enjoyed the themes of Andrea Levy's or William Boyd's novels." - Library Journal
"With great subtlety and skill, connections are uncovered, so that present and past become metaphors of one another, and the life of Bordighera echoes uneasily across the decades with the now imploded grandiosities of Celtic Tiger Ireland. Tactically, this is a master stroke, for it bursts the book out of the museum of exhausting accuracies that is always lying in wait for the historical novelist." - The Guardian
"Last Train from Liguria is a book of great promise, and the author keeps that promise in terms of remarkable description, believable locations and an authentic cast of peripheral characters. But for too long Dwyer Hickey keeps a too-tight lid upon the whirlpool of emotions simmering under the surface, and it is always ferocity of feeling, rather than elegant places and things, which tip the balance for this reader." - The Independent (Ireland)
"A significant achievement that confirms Hickey's status as a major talent." - Mail on Sunday
This information about Last Train from Liguria was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Christine Dwyer Hickey is the author of Tatty, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year. She was also a prize-winner in the Observer/Penguin short story competition.
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