The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor is a heart-wrenching dual POV historical fiction novel. It transitions between the story of Lilah, a young college student who is searching for information about her grandfather’s past in Nazi occupied Rome and Bruna a nineteen year old queer Jewish woman who is separated from her family when the Nazi’s raid the Ghetto of Rome on October 16, 1943.
I received this audiobook ARC from NetGalley and Harper Audio Children’s in exchange for an honest review. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, but hadn’t read any in the last year as I’ve been pursuing my school library media specialist degree. I’ve been searching for unique YA historical fiction for my school library, and this is definitely one I plan to order when it is released in July. The narration is beautiful, and Jennifer Jill Araya and Jesse Villinsky deliver a moving performance. Although I am not qualified to judge Italian accents, they sounded beautiful.
I’ve read countless novels about WWII, but this book caught my attention because it takes place in Italy after they surrendered to the Allied powers in 1943. Benito Mussolini had been ousted from power at this point, and within days of the surrender, Italy declared war on Germany. I haven’t read any books set during this period in Italian history and plan to search for some more. For those of you who are fans of history, the author’s note at the end discusses some of her research.
I was slightly frustrated during the first two chapters of the book. They weren’t slow, but I had already developed theories and was impatient to begin Bruna’s story. Because of my background as a history major, I found Bruna’s story and romantic relationship more compelling and interesting than Lilah’s. The timeline of Lilah and Tommaso’s relationship was rushed and didn’t feel authentic, although I liked both characters and did enjoy both POVs.
Overall, this was a captivating listen and one that I will order and recommend to my students. I like Taylor’s writing style and plan to move her novel, The Paper Girls of Paris, to the top of my TBR pile! I rate The Rebel Girls of Rome 4.25 stars.
unapologeticallyb00kish 
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