Franca's Story: Survival in World War II Italy - Hardcover

FrancaÕs Story chronicles a young girlÕs determination to help her family survive World War II in Italy, spanning the years 1937-1945. The onset of war shatters Franca MercatiÕs privileged childhood in Florence, devastates her aristocratic family, and threatens the Italian way of life. Her sistersÕ fiancŽs, then two of her brothers are sent to the front. A third brother, award-winning author Krimer, befriended by Hemingway and Picasso, volunteers as a war correspondent in Tripoli. 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 Š 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. The familyÕs beach home and all their possessions are destroyed before their eyes. Franca and her family slide from wealthy aristocrats to impoverished refugees surviving hand to mouth at Pianore, an old Hapsburg palace on the Italian Riviera. She and her friend Lilly scavenge for food to feed 300 older citizens living there. Franca overcomes obstacles with courage, ingenuity, good humor, and a deep faith in God as her dreams of living a traditional adolescent life are shattered by a world filled with turbulence.

Diane Kinman graduated from Oregon State University with a B.S. in Liberal Studies that emphasized English, Technical Journalism, Marketing, and Psychology. She studied writing at the University of Washington and at Field's End, a writers' community on Bainbridge Island, WA. In a previous life, Diane worked with architecture and engineering firms for over 25 years doing community outreach, public relations, and special events. Diane is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA), Association of Personal Historians (APH), Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), Publishers Marketing Association (PMA), and the Women's University Club (Seattle, WA).