The Secret of Santa Vittoria - Robert Crichton --------------------- 3.5 Stars

I would have never picked up (or even known about) The Secret of Santa Vittoria but a coworker mentioned it is their favorite book, so I thought I'd give it a try. And I'm not really joking about not knowing about it; this book was certainly not on my radar. Even more amazing, it was incredibly hard to find. The giant library system I borrow from didn't have one physical copy, and I had to use a different online app than normal. But was it worth finding, yeah, pretty much!

Since it's a fair assumption you don't know of the book, quick AI synopsis: "The Secrets of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton tells the story of an Italian hill town that, during World War II, unites to hide a million bottles of wine from the occupying German army. Through humor, courage, and cunning, the villagers—led by the unlikely hero Italo Bombolini—defy oppression and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit." I basically knew about that much going in too, and it was a really enjoyable read. 

There were a number of things I really enjoyed about the book. First, it was a bit of a mix of both romance, war story, and dark comedy. I thought the author did a great job moving through all different types of storytelling throughout the book. Second, because the book was many years old, it had a feel of almost from another time period of living. What I mean by that is, it felt like a book wreaking of nostalgia. And while the book had many difficult parts to get through (violence, torture, assault, etc.), the way the story is told makes it feel more wholesome than I was actually going on. In some ways it reminded me of the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. Finally, it's simply a great story. As a description above explains, it really does show off the best of humanity and there were multiple parts I found myself smiling about what took place.

There were some drawbacks, however. While not a long book, I did find there were parts that got a bit boring and slow. I found some of the characters either unnecessary or unsure why they were given parts in the story. And, as it's alluded to above, they really were some parts that were hard to stomach and read; not surprising, though, considering it's a book taking place in the middle of World War II.

As I'm quite certain most people reading do not know of this book, I would recommend at least considering it. Though it was written all the way back in 1966, it did spend nearly a year on the New York Times best seller list. Yet, it's still quite unknown at this point. I think there's also a very good movie based on the book, though I have yet to see it. Perhaps I'll have to give it a look; would imagine, like this book, I'll be pleasantly surprised

I did.