Fans of WWII historical fiction, this book is for you! It is set during the days of “Quattro Giornate di Napoli” (Four Days of Naples) which refers to the civilian uprising that took place between September 28 and 30 against German occupying forces, immediately prior to the arrival of Allied forces on October 1, 1943.

You might say, “I thought Italy was a German ally,” and you would be right! However, in the days after Mussolini’s surrender on September 8, Italy basically flipped sides and suddenly the German occupying forces were officially the enemy.

The ordinary citizens of Naples suffered greatly during the war. The port city was shelled by Allied forces prior to the surrender of Mussolini, and much of the city was reduced to rubble. The citizens were quite literally starving already, and after the armistice, the Nazi army started to take out its frustrations on the citizens with random executions, destruction of valuable artifacts, and planned mass deportations before they planned to level the city as punishment.

Even though it was rumored that the Allies were very close, the people of Naples had quite literally had enough. They could not wait anymore and spontaneously rose up against the German occupying forces — despite limited armament, organization or planning.

I was not very familiar with the role that Italy played in WWII history, so a lot of this book was new to me and completely fascinating. It followed the stories of ordinary citizens who eventually all became connected and played a role in the uprising.

Heinrich Himmler’s plan to arrest all the Jews in Greater Naples and ship them north was thwarted by the Neapolitan uprising. However, two weeks later, in Rome, the citizens were not quite so lucky. Over 1,000 Jewish men, women and children were arrested and sent by train to Auschwitz, where most eventually perished.

This is an important piece of WWII that I’m glad I learned more about. The book was published yesterday, November 3, and is available now!

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From these Broken Streets
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Roland Merullo
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Set in Naples, this piece of historical fiction centres on the ‘Four Days of Naples’, which was a four day uprising of Naples against the Nazi occupancy, which I must admit I hadn’t heard of prior to reading this novel. This was what intrigued me to this novel, and I was glad to read more about it, even in a fictional setting.
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The key themes of the novel are love, friendship, loyalty, duty, kindness and bravery. I will add here the trigger warnings of violence, and sexual assault, including that of children.
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The novel is impactful from the beginning, with Merullo’s writing through creating a dramatic, atmospheric and descriptive setting.
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I was, however, confused from the first few chapters in the novel with the number of characters that Merullo featured, and the multiple perspectives the novel is written from. This is magnified by the short chapters, covering a relatively short period of time, and therefore each chapter being more a thought process for the character than an event or happening, giving very little time for the reader to grasp onto something tangible.
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I also felt that whilst there was a lot that happened over the four days, there were elements that were stretched out for a few too many pages because of the multiple perspectives over the same period, which resulted in the events losing their momentum and impact.
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Overall, I thought the plot was engaging, and a wonderful insight into a lesser told story of World War II, but I just didn’t feel sufficiently invested in the novel as it lost its momentum through too much confusion.

From These Broken Streets tells the little known store of the Four Days of Naples. Throughout telling the heartbreaking history of an uprising in Nazi-occupied Naples, the author does a wonderful job of weaving the stories of five characters. We see the uprising and life under harsh rule in Italy through the eyes of each of these characters and see how they come to play a role in the rebellion. I liked the switching of perspectives, but will admit that it was difficult to follow at first. The story starts out slow and it took a while for me to really get into it. Overall, it was a good read and I enjoyed learning about a part of WWII that I knew so little about.

A fictional account of the Four Days of Naples, From These Broken Streets intertwines the stories of five (fictional) Neapolitan citizens who each played a significant role in the success of the uprising.

Giuseppe DiPietra is a government archivist, intellectual but strong, and motivated by the recent horrific murder of his parents by the Nazi occupiers. Facing imminent risk of being picked up and sent to the work camps, Giuseppe puts the final touches on a map he has been working on for some time --a map that details where the Germans are storing weapons within the city. Giuseppe knows the Allies are near and hopes his map can aid them. As his girlfriend urges him to go into hiding to avoid being sent away, Giuseppe realizes with a fierceness that he wants to fight back against the Nazi occupiers, that he cannot allow his parents' murder to go unavenged.

With a robust cast of characters ranging from a young boy living on the streets to a woman who trades sex for money and wishes only to have a child of her own to a cold and distant father sucked into mafia life long ago, Giuseppe and his girlfriend Lucia (herself a government employee) find themselves in good company as soon as they find themselves as the center of the uprising.

Truth be told, the wealth of characters made the first half of this book difficult for me to follow. It was very hard to track who was who. For me, a further complication was the extensive work that Merullo has done has situate his characters geographically within the city. I got lost in a maze of turn-by-turn directions, but suspect that if I had any familiarity with Naples at all, I would feel this aspect expertly accomplished. For these reasons, the first half felt like a real slog to me. After that, the stories come together more and the reader gets a better sense of how the characters play into the storyline. The ending is very action-packed, but I just found that I hadn't really started caring about the characters until just before that point, so I wasn't all that invested.

It was a decent book overall, but not a favorite. Appreciation to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC.

I had the privilege of receiving an advance copy of From These Broken Streets. Here’s what I think of it.
This is one of Merullo's best books, a thriller replete with rich characters and stunning action firmly grounded in real history. It seems bound to be a movie. When I think of it, in fact, I have to remind myself that it is something I have read and not something I have watched on the screen. It is that vivid as a book.
Merullo has done his research. Not only is his sense of history strong here, he knows the place, the city of Naples, as though he'd grown up there. Within the matrix of the great old city live half a dozen unforgettable characters, ranging from a couple of saintly and very charming women to the pride of the Nazis, a colonel who is nearly matched in his inhumanity by an Italian Capo. Through these fully formed, fully human characters Merullo is able to convey events ant attitudes that, historically, involved millions.
In writing about ruthless Capos and Nazis in general, it is difficult not to fall into melodrama, placing white hats on all the good guys and black hats upon the villains. But Merullo is not melodramatic. Although these two characters are well beyond forgiveness, the author creates others who are flawed, some deeply so, and yet not without redeeming traits or, at the last, honest causalities for being what they have become.
As usual, the writing is excellent, and the plotting deft. Merullo can juggle five storylines at a time without breaking a sweat and without losing his reader or his own balance. It a virtuoso performance in which he is able to do something few writers have done, and that is to convey a sense of simultaneity. By using both places and events, where characters are and what they are doing at certain given moments, even though they are far apart spatially and, for that matter, completely unaware of each other. One character might be sitting on a curb, another riding in a truck but a third event, an explosion, for instance, specifies the time at which they are doing these things. Or it might be a place, a set of stairs, a building. One figure might be inside the building and the reading knows this, but another character, passing it at the same moment may not. This is the sort of thing Joyce does with such finesse in Ulysses. This is the kind of technique only masters of their craft can wield.
The plot is so perfectly tense that a reader will find herself thinking of it when she is not reading it and intent to get back to the book to find out what is going to happen next. The characters attract or repel, but in both cases, we come to care, very much, what happens to them. I am already trying to imagine just what current movie stars will play the roles in this book once it is made into a movie.
Readers who liked Once Night Falls will like this book even more. I give it five stars. Why? Because they won’t let me give it six.

Fans of WWII fiction will relish this one for its interesting portrayal of how the people of Naples forced the Nazis to withdraw from their city in 1943. Merullo wisely, I think, tells the story through five people, each with a different perspective. You know that the result will succeed in the end but how it came to be and how these people contributed - and how they fare- is what makes this a gripping read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This combines good storytelling with strong characters to shine light on a fascinating chapter in Italian history.

I often choose books set in World War 2, detailing the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, but they have, almost always, been set in France. This is set in Italy, and tells the story of an uprising that I had never heard of. It was a well told, really interesting story, and this I wanted to finish because it was so gripping (rather than the reasons for wanting to finish the book !)

It was even handed – we learned about the destruction wreaked by Allied forces as well as the Nazis; there are good German soldiers, as well as the less good. The Italians were not black and white, good guys or bad guys – I found all the characters believable and well described, and it made me (as WW2 stories always do) think about what my responses might have been in similar situations. The descriptions of the city were good, and I could imagine the places easily. Another reviewer has written:Naples was, in my opinion, the central character of the story. Every description was vivid; filled with grief and destruction, but also with strength.

I couldn’t have put it better myself!

Some reviewers said they gave up after a couple of chapters, which I think is a shame. It did take me a while to become hooked – probably about 25% of the way in I found myself picking up the book more frequently, and putting it down less frequently!

This is a good, solid 4 star book, edging to 4.5 for this blog.

An outstanding historical novel about occupied Naples in WWII. The author presents the story in first person, alternating between several characters who make up the storyline. The story begins with Naples, Italy under foot of German soldiers who control the city. As the Allied troops get closer, the Germans become more desperate and ruthless. However, the unlikely happens. Neapolitans rise up against the Nazis and take control of their city.
The novel is based on history, remembered as the Four Days of Naples. Merullo has captured the terror and triumph of a defeated and subjugated people who rise up against their tormentors.
I am excited to find a new favorite author. I had never heard of a Roland Merullo until I read an article written by him in Golf Digest. I am looking forward to reading more of his twenty plus books.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful book! This was one of the best historical fiction novels I've read in a long time. Beware: it has a very slow start. I was tempted to bail out on it and only kept going because I loved the author's "Breakfast with Buddha" so much. The action builds slowly but surely and ends in a fast-paced, action-packed scene of guerrilla combat. The characters, though slow to show themselves, were terrific. Highly recommended!

This beautiful story, inspired by a true historic uprising, takes you to Nazi-occupied Naples, Italy in 1943. The author focuses on the rage and resistance of a city and its people under siege where remarkable, daring, ordinary people could not be broken. Their bonds of love, family, and unfaltering courage is what helps keep them alive in the bleakest of times.

The WWII Period Genre is one of my favorites, however, this novel did not capture me from the beginning as it has a slow start. As I continued to read, the characters eventually captured my heart, and I quickly finished the book wanting to know who survived. The gripping story has central themes of love, hope, loss, and courage…making it obvious the author did extensive research to ensure his reader could picture Naples’ destruction. While this was not my favorite, the story is still beautiful and one I would recommend.

Roland Merullo's From These Broken Streets offers a novelization of an interesting episode during WWII. After the execution of Mussolini, the figurehead king from those years negotiated the surrender of Italy to the allies. The Germans occupied much of Italy at the time, so this move to the other side wasn't simple. Germany was determined to hold Italy and increased the pace of its extradition of Jews to death camps and of healthy men to labor camps—and also planned to destroy cities as it was forced to leave them. From These Broken Streets is set in Naples, one of those occupied cities, and recounts Italian resistance to the Germans, which came together piecemeal through the efforts of individuals with some coordination from a local mafia boss.

The novel starts a bit slowly, but the characters are well drawn, so as one gets to know them the narrative becomes increasingly engaging. I move steadily through the first two-thirds of From These Broken Streets, then stayed up late to finish the last third in a single sitting. The central characters have complicated relationships with one another, and almost all wrestle constantly with self-doubt, so watching them find the courage to act as they did was a very satisfying experience. The fact that the author leaves loose ends at the novel's close is one of the book's strengths. Readers are left having to ponder the probable end of story elements that remain unresolved—and with the war not yet over and years of recovery to follow, the "story" most certainly wasn't finished after the German exit from Naples.

Of course, this is fiction, not history, so I appreciated Merullo's provision a thoughtful, thorough afterward in which he describes his research into Neapolitan resistance and explains the ways he's compressed the timeline to present events in fiction. This is a title that will appeal to a wide range of readers—WWII enthusiasts, readers of character-driven novels, readers of action novels, and readers of historical fiction. If you know anyone who falls into one of these categories, this book would make a wonderful birthday or holiday gift.

I received an electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. The opinions are my own.

This book is a historical fiction story set in Italy during World War II.

The place and time intrigued me, but it had a very slow start. When the characters finally capture me I had to finish the book.

A good book, not my favorite,

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC.

A gripping story of WWII Naples with central themes of love, hope, loss, and courage.
While the first part of the story is slow to start, it picked up towards the middle and didn’t want the story to end.
The author clearly did extensive research on the city based on the descriptions of where exactly in the city the characters were. This did distract me at times and pulled me out of the story. However, I was connected with the characters and rooted for them, their survival, and their happiness.

Merullo here, takes us on a journey through Nazi occupied Europe, this time concentrating the story on Italy, rather than Germany like so many have done, relaying a tale based on true events. Central to this plot we meet Giuseppe DiPietra whose aim, despite the fatal consequences is to assist the allied forces. Lucia Pastone is employed by their fascist government yet she too becomes embroiled in the plot to expel the Nazi invaders. Lucia's father too is in the line of Nazi fire. He works, profiting from the black market and involves his daughter in his plans and schemes. These, the young homeless boy, and all resistance fighters we encounter will stop at nothing until justice has been won and Italy is free of their invaders. We see love, strength and loyalty in this historical fiction. It was well written and engaging. The characters were truly endearing. It was a feel good book despite the context in which it was set.

From These Broken Streets by Roland Merullo is set in Naples in 1943 and begins as notorious Nazi Colonel Walter Scholl takes over command of the city. Scholl declares a curfew and a state of siege while launching a savage clampdown and forced deportations to Labour Camps. The book tells the story of a variety of characters ,from street urchin Armando to members of the Camorra organised crime syndicate whose stories overlap as they play their part in Naples' heroic civilian uprising, "The Four Days of Naples."
This is part love story,part war story and the plight of Naples' population ,first under Allied bombing then under the Nazi Jackboot when Italy changes sides is vividly illustrated.
Unlike many wartime stories this is quite even-handed, many of the Germans behave decently and the devastation wreaked on the civilian population by Allied bombing isn't white-washed,even to descriptions of Allied planes hunting and machine gunning people in the streets.
It's very good rather than great but it does feature a little-known part of the war when the brave people of Naples stood up to vastly superior forces and drove them out of their city,if they hadn't the subsequent Allied takeover would have involved street by street fighting with massive casualties.

Thanks to Roland Merullo, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Armando is caught sleeping on the streets during a storm. I liked Armando and the dialogue . I couldn't get hooked to the story.

This book had a great premise, but I just couldn't connect with the characters. I tried for a couple chapters, but then gave up when a connection wasn't made.

Naples, Italy 1943. The city is devastated by the grip of the Nazi occupation. With the curator in the National Archives a plan to aid the Allies is being formed. There are others who are also risking their lives to help spread the seeds of resistance. The entire city of Naples is joining forces to take down the occupation. Yet it is not only a story of resistance, it is a story of love, family bonds and pride in a place where you live.

An amazing and moving story of a city where ordinary people find the courage to do what is necessary to save the city they love. I have long been a fan of Historical Fiction, this story is above anything else I have read before. Not a novel to forget, it is one I highly recommend. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review..

I appreciated the depth of character given to all the main players in this historical fiction book about the WWII uprising in Naples, Italy. Though much happens, the timeline of the book is condensed to a few days and so relationship development happens on a short timeline– but it seems fitting that the pressures of war and fragile nature of life brought to the forefront would cause this. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any fans of the genre.

Really enjoyed These Broken Streets. It is the first book I have read from this author and cannot wait to read more written by him.