FRIENDS AND ROMANS On the run in Wartime Italy

The author was a British soldier when he escaped from a German prisoner train in WWII Italy. His rescue by an antifascist family saves his life, and he receives shelter from them for eight months, surrounded by Hitler’s troops, who are trying to recapture him. From the Platano family, this military officer learns the two most outstanding virtues of the Italian people: their talent for snatching enjoyment even while under adversity and their sense of compassion for human frailty. Narrator Gordon Griffin adapts his reading to portray an Englishman learning to speak Italian, taught by the family matriarch. He captures the tense moments when members of the Wehrmacht nearly discover his true identity, putting his hosts at risk of death for hiding him. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2011]