Doria Russell’s historical fiction Novel is set in Italy during World War II just after the Italians broke with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. It follows the lives of various characters who depict the factual, little-known story of a network of Italians who saved the lives of 43,000 Jews during the end of the war.

Coshocton Tribune
By Holly Richards, Staff Writer
April 16, 2009

COSHOCTON - It was a tough subject to handle, but Lori McDonnell was full of praise for an author who captured her mind with a book about how Italians saved more than 40,000 Jews during World War II.

“I’m excited to hear her speak about it, her research, and which parts are truth and fiction," said the Pickerington resident. "I read the book and it was beautiful and moving. It was a difficult subject matter, but worth reading about."

McDonnell joined many other curious readers at Lake Park Pavilion tonight for "An Evening with Mary Doria Russell," the award-winning author of "A Thread of Grace".

The novel was chosen for the first One Book, One Community event, a community-wide reading and discussion program that encourages residents to read the same book at the same time to create a community-wide book club.

“We’ve wanted to do one of these for a long time with a series of programs," said Holli Rainwater, outreach coordinator with Coshocton Public Library. "I’ve read all of her (Doria Russell’s) books and have admired her for a while. I read ‘A Thread of Grace’ when it came out (in 2005), and thought that this was a book that would be appealing to people. It has a lot of layers to it that make for good discussions."

The One Book, One Community event kicked off with its integration into the library’s existing book discussion groups....
The introductory session in March...included a screening of the movie "Tea with Mussolini".

“I’m impressed with her set-up to this; she did a superb job," Doria Russell raved about Rainwater’s efforts.

Doria Russell’s historical fiction novel is set in Italy during World War II just after the Italians broke with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. It follows the lives of various characters who depict the factual, little-known story of a network of Italians who saved the lives of 43,000 Jews during the end of the war.

“My strength is I make the characters feel real and compelling enough that you learn a lot from them without even knowing it," she said. "I need to care about the characters, and that pulls me through my research. From all my interviews with people, it took seven years of research. I didn’t feel like I was telling their story, but that I was entrusted with the story."

Doria Russell said she was eager to stand up in front of readers and enlighten them about the history and experiences related to the book. She was also on hand to mingle with guests and sign their book copies.

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