Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure by Christina Lynch is a sweeping piece of historical fiction, set mostly in Italy during WWII. The story alternates between 3 points of view – Sally, a young gossip columnist, estranged in Italy as war breaks out, Lapo, an Italian writer and farmer, whose been commissioned (forced, really) to write an autobiography of Mussolini, and finally, Lapo’s his son, Alessandro, aged 17, an anti-fascist but drafted into the Italian arm.

This was a fascinating aspect of WWII I haven’t read much about and Lynch did such a lovely job moving between the horrors of war and the wit and charm of the characters. I could see and feel the goodness in the midst of despair. I felt like I was with Sally as she rode her bike through Italy and so admired her bravery. And the ending was especially lovely.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book. IF you like wartime books this book is for you. There is so much going on and I don’t want to give spoilers so all I can say is read this book.

I was immediately interested in Sally and her unorthodox way of getting to California and being "adopted". Soon after getting to Italy, I began to lose interest. Maybe it was the politics, maybe not, I'm not sure. It's not a bad book, it just wasn't for me and that's ok. We can't give them all 5 stars!

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review!

It has been ages since I’ve read historical fiction which is a shame because it’s one of my favorite genres. I was excited to read this one as it takes place in Italy instead of Britain, Germany or France as a good chunk of WW2 historical fiction does. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

The title is slightly misleading because in my head I read it in a Bilbo Baggins style “I’m going on an adventure!!” But much like the LOTR, the “adventure” Sally Brady goes on is traversing Italy during wartime and stumbling through a fascist ruled country and wartime tragedies.

The story is told from 3 POVs: Sally, Lapo (an Italian estate owner) and his son, Alessandro who is forced to serve in the Italian military when he turns 18.

The first half of the story was a bit of a challenge to get through. I wasn’t super invested, and it felt like I kept getting puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together (in fact Lynch mentions in her author’s note that this book was not based on any one person but many stories she read about in her research) When the puzzle pieces (the characters) were eventually all connected it felt very forced and rushed. I also didn’t know what to make at all with the bits that were meant to be comedic 🤷‍♀️.

The writing was great at transporting the reader to Italy and to that time period, but otherwise it fell flat for me. You will have to decide for yourself on this one! It releases June 13.

I haven’t read many books set in Italy during WWII – generally, those are set in England or France – so I was eager to read this story. In it, Sally Brady, who was raised by a Hollywood movie star and became a gossip columnist, finds herself stranded in wartime Italy.

I liked reading about the Italian countryside and how the war impacted the citizens of Italy under Mussolini’s control. Much like the famed French Resistance, Italians also worked against their ruler, which I loved reading about.

Sally’s character, however, never had me fully invested in the story. Sure she was a clever American who could get out of sticky situations with her charisma, but she was rather frivolous throughout most of the book. I did like the love story and how she eventually grew up, but she never captured my full attention.

DNF at 40%
I was interested in Alessandro's story, but cannot stand Sally. Singing things better in the prison? No. She just keeps saying things for a reaction and trying to scandalize everyone because she's so fun and fancy free, ugh very annoying

Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure was quite the adventure. For the first half of the book I felt like I was reading an outline that had not been fully fleshed out. Once we see the connection of Sally and Alessandro, the adventure was much more interesting. It was interesting to read how Italy fared during WWII. I am ready to visit and have my own adventure.

Sally is definitely a character to root for. She seems written for the movies or at least a multi-part streaming series.
She has echoes of Jeannette Walls' characters from Hang the Moon and Half Broke Horses. I especially loved learning a bit about WWII Italy. Will definitely recommend for summer reads.

I really loved the beginning of this book, I loved Sally and found her story really interesting and charming! However by the middle of the book, I had lost interest many times and found myself getting lost in the details of the Italian government. I also found the pacing a bit messy. With some scenes being rushed through and then other uninteresting scenes seeming to go on for ages. Unfortunately this one was just not for me, but I do think there is an audience for this one and maybe it was just a mix of my mood and timing that didn't work for me!

4.5 rounded to 5

I almost DNFed this book, and I'm so glad I didn't.

The author gives us Sally's POV first person, and several others in third person. The third person segments kept me at a distance all the way through (though toward the end some chapters were engrossing) but Sally's first person voice was smart, irreverent, a bravura attempt at a thirties Bright Young Thing hanger-on, though with some twenty-first century expressions here and there that made me want to go back to Nancy Mitford et al for a dose of the real McCoy.

But I persisted, and once the war started, and Sally--whose childhood was as wild as anything I've read in old Vaudeville memoirs, for example--tried to get out of Italy and go home, the story became absolutely riveting.

Here, the author was at her best, especially in Sally's segments, depicting in scarily believable fashion how a blowhard like Mussolini could grip a country in his Fascist fantasy, drawing Italians into killing each other for specious reasons and tossing out the painfully learned lessons in civilization that Italy has been inching toward over its long history. Fear as well as greed being the great motivator. Certainly something to keep in mind in this country.

•Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure 🌍•

📚Genre: historical fiction
🤔Rating: 🍺🍺🍺.5(3.5/5)
#️⃣ of pages: 368
👯‍♀️ read if you like: stories that make you lol, books about war & rich character driven stories
Publishing Date: June 13, 2023

👍🏼:
•seriously made me laugh out loud SO many times
•very interesting time period/setting. Not one that I’ve often read about or even really seen books about
•I LOVED Sally. Talk about a girl who went THROUGH it & came out on the other side!

👎🏼:
•it took me a WHILE to like this book, tbh. It was super slow for me at first. I wish the second half of the book would’ve been the first half 😅
•I really wanted more of the connection with Sally and Alessandro in the middle of the book

Overall…
Sally Brady was an abandoned child adopted by a movie star & eventually found herself stuck in Fascist-era Rome while Mussolini rules. Told from 3 POVs, this story goes through the 1940s in Italy and gives you perspectives from Lappo (an Italian writer) and his son Alessandro (an anti-Fascist).
This book truly would’ve gotten 4 stars or higher from me if the first half would’ve been even close to as good as the second half was. With historical fiction, I feel like it’s important to set the scene and grab the reader quickly. The three POVs didn’t cross & come together until around 70% and I would’ve liked to have seen this happen sooner. It was so interesting to me because I didn’t know a lot about this era and setting. When I really became invested in the book, I couldn’t stop! This is a very character driven book and I must admit that I’m typically more of a plot driven girl.

All in all though, I’d say push through the first half and read this one! It had humor, romance, history & some tears 🇮🇹

Special thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review!

I love historical fiction so, I had to request this one. I will say the title is cute and this book was not. This book is a serious book about war and hard times. This book was heartwarming but also heartbreaking. Like others have said a lot of the things one of the characters does feels unbelievable but, I’m not a history buff. I also am not a huge fan of multiple pov but, it works okay in this book. Three stories are woven together pretty well in this historical fiction.

Historical adventures lovers will adore Sally Brady's Italian Adventure by Christina Lynch. Readers are taken on a journey through the 1940's as "Sally" takes on many continents. Travel with her as she is sent off from her family to make a better life, live with a famous Hollywood movie star and take Fasicst-era Rome by force.

I enjoyed reading this novel and the many points of view that were interwoven throughout. While sometimes it was hard to keep track of what was happening with who, I found reading and learning about this era of history to be intriguing.

I loved the evolution of Sally's character and how she found her way in Wartime Italy as an American. This book truly transported me to the streets of Italy and I loved the descriptions of life there despite the war The perspectives of Lappo and Alessandro helped me to understand the views in Italy at the time! There is humor in this book in spots with Sally's spunky character but it was also a book that helped me feel for the people. I liked The Italian Party by this author and this is another enjoyable book!

Dear Sally Brady's Italian Adventure,
Every time I read an historical fiction book, I love that it brings a new perspective and light to that time period. You shed new light on the Italian side of World War II, through the lens of a woman caught between tow worlds. Sally is an American caught in Italy during the rise of Mussolini. I loved that you shared a perspective outside of the cultural buy-in that most Italians had to fascism. I loved the delicate balance that Sally walked between frivolity and intelligence and I adored her as a character. You gave me a wonderful escape into pre-war Italy and I thoroughly enjoyed your story.

I ended up loving "Sally Brady's Italian Adventure" by Christina Lynch so much! Don't let the lighthearted title fool you like it fooled me; this book is not what I call fluff but instead has much more depth and seriousness than I expected. Set in Italy during the dictatorship of Mussolini. American socialite Sally Brady's life takes a turn when she comes face to face with the perils of fascism and war, I loved seeing her grow from a vapid and irreverent young woman to a strong-hearted heroine. Despite the hardships Sally faced, she remained irrepressibly positive and her charm and humor saved her from more than one sticky situation. Overall, this is a fun read tinged with the darker side of fascism. It's an aspect of World War II we don't often see in fiction and I was educated as well as entertained while reading. It is my first book by this author but it certainly will not be my last.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this perfect summer read!

A young girl gets on a train from the midwest heading west, and encounters a woman who adopts her and takes her on a whirlwind trip around the jetsetting world. Then, the war hits and she is thrust into an adventure of another kind.

What if you found yourself in the middle of a war armed only with lipstick and a sense of humor?

I have a quilt that my mom made me from squares cut from my old clothes, curtains from my childhood bedroom and any cloth materials from toys or furniture that she had saved over the years. It’s not very appealing, it’s a mish-mash of colours, designs and textures. However, it’s one of my prized possessions for its representation of memories and events. This book is like that. The author admittedly combined bits and pieces of her past and people she’s met with, several settings, and factual history to produce this adventure….at first glance, perhaps even first read, it’s a mish-mash. I caution you to read it again. Go slowly and savour the compilation. We need to travel through time and experience to see the growth and development of the characters and their coping mechanisms.

You’ll instantly know by the short, choppy, simple sentences that Sally is a child. She’s only 11 years old, but you’d never know it based on her survival skillset. Don’t mistake this narration as the author’s style for the entire book! It’s an attempt to get readers in the mind of a pre-teen. After convincing a Hollywood star, Patsy Chen, to adopt her, the two start off on their journey to Europe. Along the way, Sally struggles with the meaning of family, friendship and kindness. I’ll be honest with you, Sally irritated me. The slow pacing and unlikeable character/dialogue almost had me shelving this book. Almost.

Aimed at exploring whether humour can help you survive a world war, author Christina Lynch introduces readers to her plucky heroine, Sally Brady, and invites us to follow her from a refugee during the Dust Bowl era to a columnist in Rome, a second abandonment, and then to Tuscany at the height of Fascism. If you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with an examination of Mussolini’s Italy and the making of a strong and resilient woman who chooses to see the bright side of life. It may seem like the two stories are separate, but keep reading as they do join and then it’ll all make sense. When you step back from the story after turning the last page, you’ll see the big picture. Sometimes comedy is the only answer.

Congratulations on a fantastic cover!

I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

As a huge fan of The Italian Party, I was curious to see what Christina Lynch would do next. Her sophomore effort was almost a tale of two stories. I now know why I saw several reviews from readers that refused to finish the book. I was not a fan of the first half, but came around in the second.
Sally Brady has a rough start to life, as an 11 year old in the Depression sent off by her parents to find work in California. As luck would have it, she’s adopted by a film star. The story quickly moves to prewar Italy. Sally is a gal with the ability to land on her feet no matter the circumstances.
The story is told and alternates between 3 perspectives. The first is Sally’s, who has gone on to become an impossibly young gossip columnist. Lapo, an Italian writer and farmer, whose writing Mussolini takes a fancy to, and his son, Alessandro, aged 17, an anti-fascist but still of draft age. He ends up in the Italian army in Prague.
It’s obvious that Lynch was trying to balance the humor inherent in the idea of a young gossip columnist caught in Italy with the horrors the Italian government visited on their country. But the first half of Sally’s story comes across as trite and silly. To be honest, I initially found her irritating in the extreme. “I was careful to wear my red arm band, even when it clashed with my outfit.”
I was much more interested in Lapo’s and Allessandro’s stories. Here, Lynch doesn’t attempt to be silly. These two are allowed to bear serious witness to what’s happening. “Alessandro remembered one of his professors saying that as societies collapse they spend more money on wars, police and prisons.”
The story is slow to start, taking ages to get to what I would consider the “meat” of the story. Once it did, though, I became more engaged. Sally becomes more real, not quite so silly. In essence, she grows up.
Elise Roth is the narrator and captures Sally’s devil may care, perky manner. She’s less successful on the parts of the story concerning Lapo and Alessandro. In fact, her attempt at a voice for Felice Pappone made him sound like a boy, not a 6’2” bruiser of a man.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this book.

3.0 stars

Thank you to Christina Lynch, St. Martin's Press, and NetGallery for the opportunity to read this book!

First off, I think that the title and description of this book are not quite on point. It was NOT an Italian adventure and a lot of it takes place during WWII. Some of the book takes place in Hollywood, then Rome, and then finally in Siena. The part in Hollywood was just to set up the book and the time in Rome was about typical socialite parties and good times. When the book really gets into WWII and the hardships and difficulties of the Italian people under Mussolini.

The book jumps back and forth between the three main protagonists which made it hard to follow at times. Also, some of the characters - are just not believable to me. I cannot imagine some of the things that happened in this book really happening, but who knows? It just didn't ring true to me.

VERY lukewarm recommendation