A Bold and Dangerous Family: One Family's Fight Against Italian Fascism

Description

Following two bestselling books on the French Resistance, including the Samuel Johnson-shortlisted Village of Secrets, Caroline Moorehead turns her attention to the anti-fascist movement in Italy. SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD Mussolini was not only ruthless- he was subtle and manipulative. Black-shirted thugs did his dirty work for him- arson, murder, destruction of homes and offices, bribes and intimidation. His opponents - including editors, union representatives, lawyers and judges - were beaten into submission. But the tide turned in 1924 when his assassins went too far, horror spread across Italy, and antifascist resistance was born. Among those whose disgust hardened into bold and uncompromising resistance was a family from Florence- Amelia, Carlo and Nello Rosselli. Caroline Moorehead draws readers into the lives of this remarkable family - their loves, their loyalties, their laughter and their ultimate sacrifice.

Caroline Moorehead is the biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark, Iris Origo and Martha Gellhorn. Her biography of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Dancing to the Precipice, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award in 2009 and her most recent book Village of Secrets was a Sunday Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

A gripping tale of intrigue... I was enormously moved * Observer * Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism... It feels like the book she was born to write -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian * The creepy description by the author of the naivety of the good and the seductive powers of the bad touches a nerve. A Bold and Dangerous Family is a haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance -- Leanda De Lisle * The Times * Moorehead's book, written with sensitivity, erudition and balance, is a fine tribute to the Rosselli family * Financial Times * Much has been written about life under fascist rule... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family... Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression... A prolific author who has always combined seriousness of purpose with a warm, human touch, she is drawn to good-hearted troublemakers... A Bold and Dangerous Family is animated by the evident admiration and affection she feels for her subjects. It feels like the book she was born to write -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian *