The Keeper Of Lost Art is a beautiful and moving coming of age story during WW2. Stella is sent to the countryside to live with her aunt and uncle as her mother feels she would be safer during the Allies attacks. However, Stella instantly understands that her aunt doesn’t like her at all, but she doesn’t know why. She quickly befriends an orphan boy named Sandro who she instantly connects with. They spend their days talking, drawing and protecting the art work that has been hidden in Stella’s uncles villa. It is memorizing and inspiring. It gives them hope during a dark time in their lives. It connects them and binds them together. As Stella uncovers the mysteries surrounding her family, she grows to live the villa, her extended family and the art.

This is truly a fantastic book and I will definitely be recommending to anyone who loves art, historical fiction and needs a sweeping novel to inspire them. I loved it!

I am always hesitant to pick up literary fiction, because that category can include so many different things and I'm never sure how I'll feel about it. This novel takes place during World War II, but managed to provide a different, not often explored perspective by focusing on rural Italy. I honestly learned a lot from this book about what was happening in Italy at that time. I had assumed that Italy, being an Axis power, was firmly under Mussolini and allied with Hitler. I did not realize that there were so many changes of control over the area.

That being said, I also enjoyed the perspective of those helping to guard these irreplaceable artworks-- the balance of protecting these pieces while risking their own safety, struggling to survive in times of shortages and supply disruptions, trying to stay under the radar of the opposing political factions, and having to accommodate soldiers of multiple military forces. While listening to this audiobook, I felt simultaneously hopeless and hopeful, comforted and haunted. I loved this novel and would happily recommend it to any readers interested in this time period, or just general literary fiction. Well done, Laura Morelli, and the audiobook reader was also wonderful.