Peace and War: Growing Up in Fascist Italy

by Wanda Newby

. 1991, bright clean copy, with dustjacket, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981

Genres: History, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Wanda Newby (1922-2015), born Skof was the wife of Eric Newby. During WWII, she helped him to hide in the Apennine countryside after his escape from a prisoner-of-war camp at Fontanellato, near Parma. They got married after the end of WWII an the two stayed together until Eric’s death in 2006, travelling the world.

Reviews

[jzthompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spirited young girl comes of age in sunny, rural Europe in the face of growing danger from a distant war. A little episodic, but a lovely companion piece of Eric Newby's Love and War in the Apennines. Someone get the lads from Studio Ghibli on the case.

[litost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Eric Newby's Love & War in the Apennines, and particularly his relationship with the young woman who helps save his life, and then becomes his wife, so I tracked down a copy of Wanda's book. It is ok. Just like the title says, the book is about Wanda's young life in Slovenia and Italy. She does write clearly, but the story is mundane until the final third when the Germans take over and she meets Eric. At least it ends well.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to read the other side of the story to Love and War in the Apennines, but there's a lot more besides. Wanda Newby's style is so straightforward and she is just as I had imagined her from reading Eric Newby's books. Very enjoyable.

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked more Wanda+Eric but an interesting read in its own right.

[William Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting insight into a young girl's experience moving from Yugoslavia to Northern Italy during the rise and fall of Mussolini.

[5greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from extraordinary times, told in a straight, direct style.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

wanda newby was born in a small farming village in Slovenia in 1922. she was the youngest of eleven children, of whom only herself and one brother survived infancy. the first part of the book describes her early childhood in this remote rural community. Then when she was ten, her father, a schoolteacher, was forced, like many other Slovenian teachers and civil servants, to move to italy, because Mussolini's regime did not trust their loyalty. wanda's new home was a village called Fontanellato, where she struggled at first because she knew no Italian, only the triestino dialect. Soon she adapted to her new life, made friends, started to do well in school, and won a scholarship at the higher school in Parma. Despite the tiresome business of having to join the obligatory young fascists (a lot of marching and not much else) she enjoyed her teenage years, doing well at school and having many friends. the school in Parma was full of opera lovers, she describes how the boys in her class "would come to school during the opera season and discuss the previous night's performance at every oportunity. They queued for hours in order to secure the cheapest standing places in the loggioni, the back part of the gallery." how different, how very different, from the average English schoolboy. the war years were a dangerous time for the people of Fontanellato, who like many other italians behaved with extreme generosity and courage, helping escaped british prisoners at great personal risk (the pathetic and indeed insulting amount of compensation they were offered at the end of the war by the british army is infuriating to read about). For Wanda, helping prisoners of war brought love and, eventually, marriage. the book ends with her looking forward to life in England, even though she knew there would be no "castillo di Blandings" for her (all she knew of England came from italian translations of p.G. wodehouse.). A charming and fascinating autobiography of a life lived in extraordinary times.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of life in northern Italy during WWII, from Wanda's own personal perspective as a child and young adult during this time. The family are from a small village Stanjel inSlovenia (Yugoslavia), Wanda's describes excursions to the nearby Kras - a forest with cyclamens, wild narcissi and paeonies. They are forced to move to Italy initially to Gorica near Trieste and then to Fontanellato, near Parma and the Po valley. Wanda's father is a teacher, and the move to Italy is challenging with his first language not being Italian. The family take risks, including Wanda in assisting prisoners of war, one of whom is a British soldier Eric, whom she falls in love, and marries in later life. Eric wrote the book "Love and War in the Apennines" which was made into a movie.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real life is often more interesting than historical fiction as is the case with this slim book. Even though the book is simply about her experience growing up, the place and time is unique and she writes well.