Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an eGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Once Night Falls takes place in the Lake Como region of Italy during WWII. The Allies have started making their way from Sicily to the south of Italy while the Germans are looking to find Mussolini so that they can protect him. Luca, a young Italian man who cannot fight due to birth defects, is part of a team of men doing whatever they can to slow the Germans down in Northern Italy. His mom, Maria, is alone with her husband off to war and her son hiding his girlfriend in the woods. She has a secret in the attic and just do everything she can to keep the German soldiers who have taken residence next door from finding out what that is.

I really enjoyed Once Night Falls. It’s not often that you find a WWII historical fiction novel taking place in Italy. I loved that the story was told from different perspectives. I admired the will of Luca and Don Claudio and the sacrifice that Maria made.

I enjoyed how I could easily tell how the different perspectives wove together to connect all of the details.

The only reason this does not review five stars from me is that I wanted to know what happened to Rebecca and Sarah after they crossed the border to Austria and what exactly Luca did for Masso.

If you’re looking for a different historical fiction WWII novel that doesn’t take place in Germany or France, I highly recommend this one!