One Good Thing is “an unforgettable story of hardship and hope, courage and resilience, that follows one young woman’s journey through war-torn Italy.” It is also a tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival and a reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going.
Like many of the novels I read, One Good Thing was recommended by a friend, a word-of-mouth recommendation which according to the surveys I’ve done is the way people discover most of what they read. WWII novels come in various flavours: the woman who becomes a spy or a member of the resistance; the man who survives against all odds; the horrible tragedy of the holocaust; the couple who are separated by war and the will-they-won’t-they question of their future; the band of brothers who support one another through famous battles; and so on.
At the moment, Italy is seeing a surge of interest as the setting for a WWII novel which allows readers to gain understanding for how Italians coped with the war, the impact of Mussolini, and the Allied march from Sicily north as they pushed the Germans out.
As I read this novel, I asked myself what are the lessons for today. For me the lessons aren’t about fascism or war, instead they are powerful lessons about humanity. Lili – the main character – is an ordinary woman forced to find extraordinary courage in order to continue on day after day.
On shame: “Come with us, Lili wants to say. Let the others help. But it’s a cowardly, selfish idea; she feels shame at having thought it.”
On loss: “Her heart aches for Esti. For how it must be to face the fear, day after day, of losing touch with the people who mean the most to her.”
On uncertainty: “The waiting, the speculating, the worry–it’s debilitating, like a poison in her veins.”
On loneliness: “loneliness wraps around her like a corset, siphoning away her hopes, her strength, the air in her lungs.” And a page or two later: “if only the ache of missing grew fainter, rather than deeper over time. The longing, the not knowing, the worry–it grows worse as the days pass.”
On courage: “But how can she say no to helping this man, who’s put his own safety at risk to protect hers?”
On change: “her old life–the one she led before the war–is gone. There’s no going back.”
On grief: “she’s grown adept over the years at keeping her grief at bay–but the pain has been building, she realizes, surprised by its force, and now it’s greater than she can manage.”
On self-awareness: “You’ll know what to do. Your body will tell you. Just listen.”
As literary agent Julian Friedmann said in a TED talk: readers use stories to rehearse their fears. Fears about death, failure, marriage, parenthood, loss, tragedy, aging, disease, disaster, and so on. We can learn much and rehearse many fears from One Good Thing as we follow the story of Lili, Esti, and Theo.
One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter
1940, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an ‘inferior’ Jewish race, but life somehow goes on—until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory
Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Underground. When disaster strikes at the convent, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: To go on the run with Theo. Protect him while Esti can’t.
Terrified to travel on her own, Lili sets out on an epic journey south toward Allied territory, through Nazi-occupied villages and bombed-out cities, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe.
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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.
