The Resistance Quartet Series
Written by Caroline Moorehead
Narrated by John Lee, Suzanne Toren and Derek Perkins
4/5
()
About this series
""Dramatic, heartbreaking and sweeping in scope."" —Wall Street Journal
The acclaimed author of A Train in Winter returns with the ""moving finale"" (The Economist) of her Resistance Quartet—the powerful and inspiring true story of the women of the partisan resistance who fought against Italy’s fascist regime during World War II.
In the late summer of 1943, when Italy broke with the Germans and joined the Allies after suffering catastrophic military losses, an Italian Resistance was born. Four young Piedmontese women—Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca—living secretly in the mountains surrounding Turin, risked their lives to overthrow Italy’s authoritarian government. They were among the thousands of Italians who joined the Partisan effort to help the Allies liberate their country from the German invaders and their Fascist collaborators. What made this partisan war all the more extraordinary was the number of women—like this brave quartet—who swelled its ranks.
The bloody civil war that ensued pitted neighbor against neighbor, and revealed the best and worst in Italian society. The courage shown by the partisans was exemplary, and eventually bound them together into a coherent fighting force. But the death rattle of Mussolini’s two decades of Fascist rule—with its corruption, greed, and anti-Semitism—was unrelentingly violent and brutal.
Drawing on a rich cache of previously untranslated sources, prize-winning historian Caroline Moorehead illuminates the experiences of Ada, Frida, Silvia, and Bianca to tell the little-known story of the women of the Italian partisan movement fighting for freedom against fascism in all its forms, while Europe collapsed in smoldering ruins around them.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Titles in the series (3)
- Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France
2
“Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants. . . . But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex. . . . If the picture Moorhead paints is messier than the myth, this only serves to enhance the heroism of the main actors.”— The New Yorker From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the absorbing story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II—told in full for the first time. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a small village of scattered houses high in the mountains of the Ardèche, one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of Eastern France. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of this tiny mountain village and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, freemasons, communists, OSS and SOE agents, and Jews. Many of those they protected were orphaned children and babies whose parents had been deported to concentration camps. With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, and interviews with some of the villagers from the period who are still alive, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose their Nazi occupiers. A thrilling and atmospheric tale of silence and complicity, Village of Secrets reveals how every one of the inhabitants of Chambon remained silent in a country infamous for collaboration. Yet it is also a story about mythmaking, and the fallibility of memory. A major contribution to WWII history, illustrated with black-and-white photos, Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon, and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals, most of them women, for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.
- A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Fascism
3
The acclaimed author of A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets delivers the next chapter in ""The Resistance Quartet"": the astonishing story of the aristocratic Italian family who stood up to Mussolini's fascism, and whose efforts helped define the path of Italy in the years between the World Wars—a profile in courage that remains relevant today. Members of the cosmopolitan, cultural aristocracy of Florence at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Rosselli family, led by their fierce matriarch, Amelia, were vocal anti-fascists. As populist, right-wing nationalism swept across Europe after World War I, and Italy’s Prime Minister, Benito Mussolini, began consolidating his power, Amelia’s sons Carlo and Nello led the opposition, taking a public stand against Il Duce that few others in their elite class dared risk. When Mussolini established a terrifying and brutal police state controlled by his Blackshirts—the squaddristi—the Rossellis and their anti-fascist circle were transformed into active resisters. In retaliation, many of the anti-fascists were arrested and imprisoned; others left the country to escape a similar fate. Tragically, Carlo and Nello were eventually assassinated by Mussolini’s secret service. After Italy entered World War II in June 1940, Amelia, thanks to visas arranged by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself, fled to New York City with the remaining members of her family. Renowned historian Caroline Moorehead paints an indelible picture of Italy in the first half of the twentieth century, offering an intimate account of the rise of Il Duce and his squaddristi; life in Mussolini’s penal colonies; the shocking ambivalence and complicity of many prominent Italian families seduced by Mussolini’s promises; and the bold, fractured resistance movement whose associates sacrificed their lives to fight fascism. In A Bold and Dangerous Family, Moorehead once again pays tribute to heroes who fought to uphold our humanity during one of history’s darkest chapters.
- A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism
4
""Dramatic, heartbreaking and sweeping in scope."" —Wall Street Journal The acclaimed author of A Train in Winter returns with the ""moving finale"" (The Economist) of her Resistance Quartet—the powerful and inspiring true story of the women of the partisan resistance who fought against Italy’s fascist regime during World War II. In the late summer of 1943, when Italy broke with the Germans and joined the Allies after suffering catastrophic military losses, an Italian Resistance was born. Four young Piedmontese women—Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca—living secretly in the mountains surrounding Turin, risked their lives to overthrow Italy’s authoritarian government. They were among the thousands of Italians who joined the Partisan effort to help the Allies liberate their country from the German invaders and their Fascist collaborators. What made this partisan war all the more extraordinary was the number of women—like this brave quartet—who swelled its ranks. The bloody civil war that ensued pitted neighbor against neighbor, and revealed the best and worst in Italian society. The courage shown by the partisans was exemplary, and eventually bound them together into a coherent fighting force. But the death rattle of Mussolini’s two decades of Fascist rule—with its corruption, greed, and anti-Semitism—was unrelentingly violent and brutal. Drawing on a rich cache of previously untranslated sources, prize-winning historian Caroline Moorehead illuminates the experiences of Ada, Frida, Silvia, and Bianca to tell the little-known story of the women of the Italian partisan movement fighting for freedom against fascism in all its forms, while Europe collapsed in smoldering ruins around them. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Caroline Moorehead
Caroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of the Resistance Quartet, which includes A Bold and Dangerous Family, Village of Secrets, and A Train in Winter, as well as Human Cargo, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. An acclaimed biographer, she has written for the New York Review of Books, The Guardian, and The Independent. She lives in London and Italy.
Related to The Resistance Quartet
Related audiobooks
A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Fascism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBabbit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackmail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Strangler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRequiem for a Soldier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder the Shadow of Etna: Sicilian Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrench Revolution: The Social Upheaval in 1787 and the Consequences Thereof Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle Of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGermany: Historic Events and Significant Changes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Three Fat Women Of Antibes: Maugham Interview 1965 The Happy Couple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMadrid de Los Austrias (España) Inglés Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharlemagne: King of the Franks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Top 10 Short Stories - The 1860's - The Men: The top ten short stories written in the 1860s by male authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reef Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5European History: Events, Wars, and Revolutions in British and Dutch History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great French Kings: From Louis XII to Louis XVIII Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Expectations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dawdling by the Danube Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Secret Agent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 20th Century’s Most Influential Artists: The Lives and Art of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Jackson Pollock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVirginia Woolfe 3 Complete Works: Mrs. Dalloway To The Lighthouse The Voyage Out Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaptain of the Steppe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5William Shakespeare: Facts about His Life, Quotes, Poems, and Works in a Nutshell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reverberator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReginald Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsM: Son of the Century: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impressionism: The History, Ideas, and Culture of the Impressionist Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Rare Recording of Father Charles Coughlin - Vol. 5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Helpmate and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
History For You
Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Marriage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Resistance Quartet
61 ratings0 reviews