Asunder: Forgotten Love

Against the turmoil and horror of World War II, Domenico and Antoinette, a young Italian couple of diverse backgrounds, fall in love and marry in Milan. Their marriage is blessed with the birth of twin sons. Their bliss is short-lived when Mussolini aligns with Hitler and declares that all boys five years and older must train in a youth military camp called the Sons of the Wolf. Domenico refuses to have his sons be part of the Fascist regime. He sends Antoinette and the twins to her family in Florence and joins the Resistance. To slow the Allied Forces, the Nazis destroy the bridges in Florence. Antoinette and her sons are victims of the destruction. Domenico returns to Florence to rescue his family, but is he too late?

Janet Sierzant’s Asunder is a heart-wrenching love story set against the backdrop of the Second World War. The main protagonists are well-developed characters. Antoinette comes across as sympathetic, and it’s easy to fall in love with the handsome Domenico. This novel’s complex, interesting, and believable emotional tension is overwhelming because it comes from the main protagonists’ interaction and outside forces they can’t control. However, it is their emotional journeys that direct the plot. This is an enthralling novel with numerous twists and turns and a completely unexpected ending. It is a captivating story that will hook readers from the moment Antoinette and Domenico meet in Milan up to the last page of the book. Highly recommended. --Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers’ Favorite