Description

From the bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones comes a powerful and moving tale depicting friendship, courage, resilience, and hope amid the devastation of wartime Italy.

The year is 1940, in Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have shared a deep and unwavering friendship ever since meeting at the University of Ferrara. When Esti has her son Theo, the bond between the women becomes as close and powerful as that of sisters. But as war spreads across Europe, Mussolini’s Racial Laws label Lili and Esti members of Italy’s Jewish community—and therefore belonging to an “inferior” race. Even as their freedoms diminish, the women attempt to carry on, until Germany invades northern Italy, placing Lili and Esti directly under Nazi occupation.

Determined and fierce, Esti persuades Lili first to escape to the countryside to aid in sheltering war orphans, and then flee to a convent in Florence. There, posing as nuns, they bravely assist the resistance by crafting false identity papers for Underground fighters. When tragedy strikes at the convent and Esti is critically injured, she begs Lili to undertake something even more difficult—fleeing alone with young Theo to safety, protecting him with her life.

Frightened but driven by her promise, Lili embarks on a perilous, heart-stopping journey through Nazi-occupied territory, bomb-ravaged towns, and hostile checkpoints, desperate to find safety for herself and for the young boy she loves like her own.

A deeply affecting story of friendship, motherhood, sacrifice, and survival, One Good Thing is an extraordinary portrayal of how powerful love can be, even in the darkest times, giving one the strength and determination to persevere.