RaveThe New York Journal of BooksA storied Italian villa nestled into the picturesque Florence countryside and home to the tragedy bound Rosatis family forms the idyllic backdrop for Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel The Light in the Ruins ...work oscillates between events that took place in 1943 at the height of Italy’s involvement in World War II, and the inevitable heartbreaking repercussions of those actions brought to fruition in 1955 ... Playing between the events that lead to the shattering of the Rosati family in the 1940s and the intertwined lives of both the Rosatis and Serafina, Mr. Bohjalian builds a suspenseful novel that is only part murder mystery ...an engaging story that unspools in such a way as to keep the reader with her nose to the pages long after the light has actually faded.
