I have been wanting to read a book by Tara Moss for quite a while and am very glad that I finally now have. I will be working my way through her backlist, I am sure.
This story has a lot going for it. I loved the main characters (Billie and those around her) and their interrelationships. The plot was involving and I kept wanting to carve out a bit more time to read.
It was fascinating to see how Moss spread this story over three distinct time lines. Time on the cruise ship was also intriguing as was delving into the history of Billie’s father.
When I got to the end, I found myself knowing that I would read whatever this author writes next. She has a terrific series here.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 02 December 2025
Post first published on 27 December 2025
Description:
An old family secret leads from the streets of Sydney to Italy’s sun-drenched Neapolitan coast, in this immersive historical mystery from #1 international bestselling author Tara Moss
Pacific Ocean, 1907. A girl embarks on a journey to begin a new life far from home.
Naples, 1943. A woman shelters underground from a wartime air raid, praying her husband will return home.
Sydney, 1948. Billie Walker, returned from a stint as a wartime investigative journalist, uncovers a dusty box in her father’s old office whose contents—correspondence with a woman on the other side of the world—just might explain how they all are connected.
Plunged into a perilous search that will take her onto the first postwar luxury passenger ship to sail across the ocean to Italy, Billie finds herself up against a dangerous adversary—someone with a mysterious grudge against her family—as she races to uncover the secrets her father left behind. And as the trail leads her towards two women whose histories may be entwined with her own, she realizes that her father’s Italian secret just might upend everything she thought she knew.
From the Publisher:
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 