Early One Morning

by Virginia Baily Narrated by Jilly Bond

Overview

Two women's decision to save a child during WWII will have powerful reverberations over the years.

Chiara Ravello is about to flee occupied Rome when she locks eyes with a woman being herded on to a truck with her family. Claiming the woman's son, Daniele, as her own nephew, Chiara demands his return; only as the trucks depart does she realize what she has done. She is twenty-seven, with a sister who needs her constant care, a hazardous journey ahead, and now a child in her charge.

Several decades later, Chiara lives alone in Rome, a self-contained woman working as a translator. Always in the background is the shadow of Daniele, whose absence and the havoc he wrought on Chiara's world haunt her. Then she receives a phone call from a teenager claiming to be his daughter, and Chiara knows it is time to face up to the past.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/10/2015
As Nazi soldiers march into Rome in 1943, 26-year-old spinster Chiara Ravello prepares to flee to the countryside with her sister, Cecilia, whose frequent seizures have left her with the mind of a child. As Chiara passes the Jewish Quarter, a young mother wordlessly shoves her seven-year-old son into Chiara's arms. She smuggles the boy, named Daniele, to her grandparents' farm, and later raises him to adulthood. Decades later, in 1973, a Welsh teenager named Maria Kelly discovers that Daniele is her father, and her quest for answers leads her to Chiara, who initially chooses to describe herself merely as Daniele's former landlady. Maria's arrival in Rome stirs up heartbreaking memories for Chiara, who has not seen or spoken to Daniele in 10 years. Eventually, she'll have to tell Maria about the true nature of her relationship with Daniele and contend with three decades' worth of shameful memories. Baily's cast of remarkable, memorable characters—each with their own set of demons—drives a plot that's filled with unexpected twists and manages to populate the well-trodden literary arenas of World War II, the Italian countryside, and hidden family secrets with a fresh perspective and an unexpected resolution. Baily's novel hums with emotional resonance. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

"Utterly breathtaking." —Redbook

"From the broken Jewish ghetto and dusky countryside of occupied Italy during WWII to the bustling Trastevere cafes of Rome in the 1970s, Virginia Baily offers an affecting contemplation of the past, personal identity, and the complexity and diversity of human bonds. Early One Morning is the sort of book you can't put down and then stays with you, like the best of journeys, long after it's finished."—Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest

"Early One Morning heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in fiction, with a story that is instantly engaging, and characters that effortlessly lift from the page and are rendered so rich and full that they wrap themselves around you and refuse to let go. Beautifully written and emotionally taut, Virginia Baily's Early One Morning is a powerhouse of a debut."—Jason Hewitt, author of The Dynamite Room

"Early One Morning isn't just an incandescent novel, but the rarest of reading experiences, offering a view both wrenching and luminous of how love pushes us past what we're capable of, and somehow-impossibly-reclaims us when we're long past saving. Utterly magnificent."—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

"Wonderful.... I was completely inside it from the first pages, just that delicious (rare) feeling of knowing you're in safe hands, this writer isn't going to make a mess of anything, or forfeit your trust or your belief. It managed to be so witty and dry and true.... Vividly intelligent, gripping and moving and alive."—Tessa Hadley, author of Clever Girl

"As gripping as any thriller.... [and] crammed with the sort of heart-stopping, heart-breaking scenes that brought a lump to the throat of even this jaded reviewer. Really, really good."—Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail (UK)

"A real treat; a beautifully written account of the long consequences of war, set in a richly evoked Rome of the 1970s."—Philip Hensher, Guardian (UK)

"Baily subtly tugs at your heartstrings and by the end of her novel you're likely to be as desperate as the women in Daniele's life to discover his fate."—Sophie Donnelly, Express (UK)

"A powerful tale of the reverberations of one woman's decision to save a child."—Stylist (UK)

"A powerful story of sacrifice, despair and ultimately redemption."—Eithne Farry, Express Online (UK)

"A compelling tale about people seeking to define themselves against the tumult of history."—Clare Allfree, Metro (UK)

"A fresh approach to this well-worn period."—Julie McDowall, Independent (UK)

"A moving assertion of the power of maternal love to overcome unimaginable obstacles."—Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times (UK)

"A powerful and moving novel about a young man parted from his family during the Second World War-and the long shadow the separation casts."—Good Housekeeping (UK)

"Incredibly sure-footed, a big, generous and absorbing piece of storytelling, fearless, witty and full of flair.... [Baily] masterfully explores themes of identity, belonging and loss."—Samantha Harvey, Guardian (UK)

"This will appeal to fans of Maggie O'Farrell and lovers of historical, intergenerational, or Italian fiction."—Mara Dabrishus, Library Journal

"Deeply moving."—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

"A wonderfully moving novel."—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News

"An emotional page-turner that skillfully evokes the terrors of war and the enduring power of love."—Kim Hubbard, People

"A complex exploration of identity, a tribute to love in its many shapes and sizes, Early One Morning shapes beauty from pain while compassionately touching its readers' hearts."—Shelf Awareness

"A heart-wrenching novel about sacrifices we make for family and loved ones, and redemption during one's lifetime."—Christine Mahoney, San Diego Union-Tribune

"Brilliant."—Dannye Romine Powell, Charlotte Observer

Library Journal

09/15/2015
Baily's second novel (after Africa Junction) begins in Nazi-occupied Rome in 1943. Chiara Ravello is preparing to flee to her grandparents' house when she happens across families being forcibly removed from the Jewish ghetto. Without thinking, she rescues a boy from his mother's arms, an action that has three decades' worth of repercussions for Chiara, the boy, Daniele, and eventually his daughter, Maria, who hopes to someday meet him. This is not a sentimental tale of a good deed met with the instant reward of a happily ever after but is instead the story of two women coming to terms with themselves as they search for a man who touched both their lives in different ways. While the novel ends in a rush, readers will be drawn to the vibrant and brave characters. VERDICT This will appeal to fans of Maggie O'Farrell and lovers of historical, intergenerational, or Italian fiction. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/15, p. 29.]—Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH

Kirkus Reviews

2015-07-01
Vivid and freshly cast family drama that draws on the experience of civilians who came to the aid of Italy's Jews during the Nazi occupation. Though other points of view enter the narrative, it's spry, chain-smoking, never-married Signora Chiara Ravello—reliably sturdy, inwardly doubting—who holds close the cards a reader most cares about. In October 1943, while preparing to evacuate Rome with her mentally impaired sister, Chiara saved a Jewish boy (with his mother's collusion) from almost certain death under the very noses of German police who were rounding up his family for deportation. Flash-forward to the 1950s, when Daniele, the boy she rechristened and raised as her own kin, enters rebellious puberty and stumbles on Chiara's other secret—a terrible one. Before she can form an acceptable explanation, he's gone from her life. As the narrative zigzags between past, near-past, and present, we're introduced to a colorful legion of minor characters, only two of whom have an inkling of Chiara's involvement with anti-fascist partisans, her wrenching wartime sacrifice, or the reason for Daniele's disappearance: Father Antonio, Chiara's old friend and colleague at the pontifical library where she works as a translator; and charismatic, intellectual Simone, her dead father's former mistress. Enter Maria, a British teenager who claims to be Daniele's child and has found Chiara's phone number on a letter. When the girl begs to spend the summer as the signora's lodger in Rome to improve her Italian, 60-something Chiara recognizes a possible path of reprieve from actions weighing on her soul: above all, she wants her life "not to be one where his name is never spoken…and this girl will be the key." At a moment when families around the globe are being upturned by organized aggression and civil war, Baily offers a poignant, not-too-sappy fable about surviving war's cruelties and crushing losses and the near-miraculous feats of bonding humans are sometimes capable of.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173516107
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	09/29/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos