She promised her mother she would never leave Italy.
Then the man she loved left for America.
And war came.
Nina Argenta has always known what is expected of a woman in her small Italian mountain village. But Nina wants more. Raised by a fiercely independent midwife, she dreams of choosing her own life and when childhood friend Pietro Pante returns home, she begins to imagine a future with him.
Until Pietro leaves for America.
Nina could follow him. But she made her mother a promise she can't break.
So she stays.
As Mussolini's fascist regime tightens its grip on Italy, the life Nina knows begins to unravel. Then Nazi forces occupy her mountain village, and the war turns every ordinary day into a fight for survival.
Separated from Pietro by an ocean, a promise, and a war that seems determined to destroy everything she loves, Nina must find a strength she never knew she possessed.
Because surviving the war may be only the beginning.
Inspired by the true story of the author's Italian family, Under the Light of the Italian Moon is a sweeping multigenerational saga of love, family, courage, and the extraordinary women who protected what mattered most during one of Italy's darkest chapters.
Perfect for readers of The Nightingale, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, All the Light We Cannot See, and Elena Ferrante-an unforgettable Italian story of strong women, survival, love, and resilience.
Jennifer Anton is the author of Under the Light of the Italian Moon, a historical novel set in Italy during World War II. Her work seeks to rescue women's stories from history, beginning with the lives of women in her own Italian family. She divides her time between the UK and Italy.