Franca's Story: Survival in World War II Italy

Franca's Story chronicles a young girl's determination to help her family survive World War II in Italy, 1937-1945. The onset of war shatters Franca Mercati's privileged childhood in Florence, devastates her aristocratic family, and threatens the Italian way of life. The family flees their palatial home in Florence to escape Allied bombs and settles in their beach home at Viareggio. One brother is soon killed, and a second is missing in action. Franca and her father secure a private audience with the Pope... will his influence help them find her missing brother, Lt. Mercati? Franca discovers her father is helping Jewish children escape; she secretly uses his connections to rescue a wounded British pilot. She watches in horror as her school friends die in the bombing of a train station; helps when her brother-in-law is severely beaten by Fascists; and survives a harrowing ride with a deserting Nazi doctor. Franca and her family slide from wealthy aristocrats to impoverished refugees surviving hand to mouth at an old Hapsburg palace. She overcomes obstacles with courage, ingenuity, good humor, and a deep faith in God in a world filled with turbulence.