Yacobo's Secret (working title)

Set in fascist Italy my novel tells the story of one village and two communities.

With the rise of Mussolini we follow two friends, Yacobo, a Jewish intellectual and his neighbour Angelo a Catholic farmer.

We follow their families from 1921 until 1945. We see their chidren Bella and Rico fall in love and face the difficulties different backgrounds and religions cause. Angelo and Yacobo fall out as Yacobo is against Bella and Rico marrying.

Bella ends up marrying a Jewish man from a nearby village and Rico joins the partisans. When war breaks out in Italy and Rico brings orphans from the East to shelter them in a Villa just outside Monterini, he calls to Bella to help him pass them off as Italians.

The Germans arrive in Monterini in 1942 and the Jewish community is forced to leave in order to survive. The Catholic villagers save them and Yacobo and family is hidden by Angelo in an old ruin. Everyone leaves but Bella who converts to Catholicism and changes her name and enters a bigamous marriage with Rico.A German discovers the existence of the orphans and Bella and Rico have 24 hours to forge passports and get them away from the town.

The novel is about love betrayal and friendship amidst testing btimes and is based on true events that occured in Italy during this period.

Through out the novel is the existence of a spirit called Tanaquilla that both Yacobo and Bella are aware of but only find out they both see her at the end of the novel.