A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Fascism

In the third book of her "Resistance" trilogy (after A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets), historian Moorehead turns her attentive eye to the earliest resisters of Italy's National Fascist Party, led by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943. The Rosellis, including matriarch Amelia and sons Nello and Carlo, belonged to the Italian aristocracy, making their fortune from stocks in mercury mines. The family's opposition to fascism stemmed from Amelia's deep national pride, formed in her childhood years following Italian unification. This dedication to her country, combined with an ingrained sense of integrity, honesty, and morality contributed to Amelia and her sons becoming fierce and unrelenting critics of the regime, which ultimately led to the deaths of Carlo and Nello at the hands of a French far-right group at the behest of the Fascists. Based in part on letters preserved by the family and secret police files, Moorehead's account tells an extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance.