The Italian Quarter

by Domenica de Rosa

The Di Napolis may have been raised in England, but their souls are Italian...Charismatic, irascible and defiantly Italian, Cesare presides over his large family much like his Roman namesake. But when a journalist begins asking questions about his allegiances during the war, Sophie realises how little she really knows her adored grandfather. She embarks with him on a journey of discovery through turn of the century Naples, 1920s Clerkenwell and the war years, in the course which she learns something whom it is that she really loves.

Genres: Italy, Fiction

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Phrynne]

Also available under another title Return to the Italian Quarter and written by author Elly Griffiths, under her real name, in the early stages of her writing career.

This is a romance set in London and revolving around what it was like to be an Italian immigrant during and in between the two world wars. It was very nicely written with definite hints of the author's later style. It is a fairly light read considering the seriousness of some of the topics it covers.

I enjoyed it especially as a sample of things to come for this author. Four stars.

[Barbara]

A fairly light read. Best bits - imagining the Italian sunshine!

[Judy]

This wasn't quite what I expected - I'd thought from the title that it would be a historical novel about life in the Italian quarter of London. In fact, while it does touch on that, the title is a pun, since it's also the tale of a woman who is one-quarter Italian.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it - it blends together history and the present, jumping to and fro, and is written with an enjoyably light touch. Domenica De Rosa does seem to be rather kind towards those British Italians who supported Mussolini during the war, but, since the book is partly based on her own father's internment, that's probably understandable - and she certainly shows how much prejudice the Italian community in London had to cope with in the 1930s.

[Nicki]

I really liked the story about the Italian immigrants living in London, it was fasscinating reading about peoples attitudes back then towards them and how they responded to the ignorance. So all the historical parts I really enjoyed. I didn't enjoy the present day story about Sophie, the main character and her love life.

[Fiona]

The present day plot wasn’t up to much but did enjoy the sub plot regarding the Italian English in WW2

[Phoebe]

Incest

[Molly Vetter]

I finally accepted the DNF
Everyone is really brushing over the cousins incest plot line huh?
Also maybe I learned like a thing or two but I am not a historical fiction gal
Will definitely be putting this one in a little free library, like the one I took it out of, to scar someone else

[Georgie]

Easy holiday reading

[Laura Berzins]

Enjoyed the historical elements but wasn’t too keen on the modern day. And the love storyline felt completely unnecessary and exceptionally weird

[Anne Williams]

Enjoyed this one, but it was a bit of a book of two halves for me. I loved the modern story, thought Sophie and her large Italian family (and all her - sometimes ill-judged - romantic escapades) were wonderful. The weakness for me was the telling of Cesare's story which was central to the book - I'd just have preferred it as a counterpoint rather than being told as a slightly indigestible chunk. But this was her first novel, and there are strong signs throughout of the warmth and fluidity of style that she has now perfected. Well worth a read. (PS. This was a book, not audio, but I can't get the site to understand that...!)

[Franco Forleo]

A wonderful read... Domenica rekindled many of my childhood memories...

[Claire]

Loved this book.

[Gina]

I have been reading a mystery series under Domenica De Rosa's better known name -- Elly Griffiths. When I discovered that she had written several works of historical fiction about Italian immigrants in England under her given name, I had to read at least one.

Enter the beauty and magic of the interlibrary loan!

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read about the Italian immigrant experience in England, which seems to be the mirror of the Italian immigrant experience in the U.S. We do not hear much about the long history of immigrant mistreatment -- often by the preceding wave of immigrants! My grandfather and uncles talked about their experiences at the hands of the Irish immigrants who preceded the Italians.

Also, De Rosa covers the internment of Italians and Italian-Americans during WW II. Certainly, the Italian and German detainees did not suffer the extremes of the Japan interment camps, but it is yet another "interesting" nugget of U.S. history that is often forgotten.

Domenica De Rosa / Elly Griffiths is one hell of a writer!

[Matt Schembari]

The Italian Quarter, the debut novel from Domenica De Rosa, is a quiet character study of Italian immigrants living in Britain.

The story centres around Sophie, an early-30s part-Italian looking to piece together parts of family history surrounding her mysterious grandfather, Cesare.

What follows is an interesting take on political stance vs search for personal identity, and some personal twists for Sophie thrown in here and there.

De Rosa writes very frankly, and while some of the first act moved a little slowly for me, there's also a very large plot point I just couldn't get on board with. Nonetheless, she crafts an effective story of Italians from the old country.

Watch out for a surprise twist on literally the last page, De Rosa definitely finishes her debut novel with a lasting impression.

[Pat Stearman]

Love it. Very early Elly Griffiths under her real name but the characters are as strong and the story is interesting. Not something I'd really thought about, being from a 'Italy and Italians are fabulous' generation, how badly they were treated in the UK pre, during and post war.
If I have to add a slight niggle it's just that Cesare's story did read like a letter which carried on maybe a bit too long, rather than taking you back to the places and times. Of course this was basically what it was and maybe 3 different times written as 'now' wouldn't have worked.
Still love it and will read the rest of the Domenica ones.

[Diana Untila]

Good old memories. Fascinating book, and only those who have been feeling the Italian atmosphere can feel the book. More if you ever been to Italy, are Italian and plus have been in UK and London, you'll be fascinated and amazed by book, otherwise is gonna be hard as it contains a lot of Italian words and as is weaved with Italian cities, places, events, historical figures, is making you to travel imaginary in a feeling that is hard to describe but wherever you come from, makes you think about your identity first. Which nothing is more proud in this world then to know that wherever you go on this planet, your blood and culture is something individual.

[C]

https://clavie.co/2019/09/04/book-rev...

I found this novel to be confusing as the story switched from Cesare to Sophie quite quickly throughout the entire novel, leaving me wanting more from each point-of-view.

The story between Sophie and Antonio/Guido lacked any real emotion with not much of a background of the characters for each of their relationships. It was hard to follow at times however, Cesare’s description of the past was intriguing, which kept me entertained most of the time.

[Catherine]

Written by the author otherwise known as Elly Griffiths. This novel is not a mystery, but has bits of mysteries within it. There are two generational stories – that of protagonist Sophie and her complicated love life, and that of her grandfather, Cesare, who was a POW during World War II. There’s a family tree at the beginning of the book – I flagged it with a post-it note and referred to it often. Cesare’s story was interesting. Sophie’s was so-so, and I’m sorry, but second-cousin sex is a little squicky.

[Marc Terreur]

Ach ja. Grote Literatuur is het niet. Er zit een romcom in.
Het lag hier, geen idee hoe dat gekomen is, en ik heb het uitgelezen. In Nederlandse vertaling.
Het stuk over de Italiaanse wijk in Londen en het Italië van Mussolini was nog best interessant. Verder is het een familiegeschiedenis en een liefdesgeschiedenisje bij elkaar. Licht en doorzichtig. Appelsap zonder pulp. Vakantielectuur. Goed dat er achteraan een stamboom bij zat. Die heb ik minstens honderd keer moeten consulteren.

[Bronwyn Mcloughlin]

Interesting exploration of family history and the Italian diaspora in London between the wars and during WWII. A tale of an extended, convoluted family and its personalities and the pressures heritage places on them when patriotism and identity come into question. Tidy enough and insightful, but not startling.

[Pauline]

I enjoyed the storyline, and most of the characters were interesting. I didnt find Sophie's character very likeable, and the fact that Sophie seemed to feel she needed to have sex with men if they so much as winked at her was a bit annoying and unnecessary. For me the ending was a disappointment.

[Patriciagoodwin]

Having been to a talk from the author, decided to read! Very well written. Story of Italian internees during WW2 & also life for Italian immigrants in London at & around this time. Very interesting.

[Laura Bricknell]

I found this book confusing with the intertwined stories of a family. Disappointed as I love her Ellie Griffiths books about a forensic archeologist.

[Ann]

Reread this because of Lockdown! Still enjoyed it though.

[Sue Corbett]

Ellie Griffiths real name, I think. Slightly too long, not as engaging as the Ruth Galloway series.

[Christina]

Loved the beginning of this book and I learned a lot about the Italian community in London before and during WWII, but really didn't like the ending - sorry!

[Miss P]

3.5

[Sara]

Snapshot of Italian life during and after WW2. Bit tame.

[Grace Rutherford]

Slow start but interesting plot and twists

[Nicola Lowson]

I enjoyed learning about the war and life in that time through an Italian’s eyes.
It was great that it was written as a story within a story.