Book Review: The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor

My bookclub ended up choosing this book for our July read and I luckily already sold it in the bookstore! (I promise, that is not why I suggested this book for our monthly read.) I loved Jordyn Taylor’s previous book, The Paper Girl of Paris, which is also available at The Reading Chamber.

This week’s title is The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor

After her mother’s death, Lilah longs to understand her grandfather’s guarded past—until a lost heirloom unlocks a long-buried secret. As she unravels a decades-old mystery, she discovers a story that could reshape her family’s legacy. In 1943 Rome, Bruna is forced into the resistance, where love becomes her boldest form of defiance and staying true to herself may be the greatest risk of all.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I heard there would be another historical, dual-timeline novel from Jordyn Taylor, I added it to my TBR so fast. While this is not connected to The Paper Girl of Paris and can be read on its own, I really loved having the background knowledge of Taylor’s previous book because it made this book’s ending that much more interesting to me. If you’re in the mood for a historical fiction novel that takes place in both the past and present and want to learn more about an Italian Jewish perspective during WWII then read on.

Spoiler-free Review

I really admired how seamlessly The Rebel Girls of Rome transitioned between Lilah’s perspective and Bruna’s. Even though their stories were on different timelines, it didn’t feel disjointed or like I was reading two separate novels instead of one. In Lilah’s version, we get questions and in Bruna’s we get the answers. I also really enjoyed the parallel of Lilah seeing the Pride parade with knowing how much opposition to the LGBTQ community Bruna and her friends battled during their time.

The POV of this novel is so unique. There are a lot of stories about WWII out there, but I haven’t come across one that took place in Italy during the war, and especially not from a queer Jewish perspective. Reading stories like Bruna’s can help shape different perspectives and show that there are so many untold stories out there and each one is incredibly important. The Rebel Girls of Rome definitely opened my eyes more to historical fiction that does not just come from a cisgender lense.

While I loved Bruna and Elsa’s romance in the story, it didn’t feel like Lilah needed a romance with Tommaso. I still liked their easy relationship and the connection they shared trying to solve their families’ histories. Bruna and Elsa’s romance was a lot more in-depth and organic, while Lilah and Tommaso seemed like circumstantial.

If you like to discover new voices and parts of history you never knew about, check out The Rebel Girls of Rome!

For a spoiler review, keep on reading!

Spoilers! Be warned!

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Okay, I warned you!

In my bookclub, we talked about the ending of this title a lot. Some people liked it (like me), but others felt like it was too happily-ever-after. Now, I can understand why since not only do Bruna, Elsa, Aronne, and Dario all survive the war, they all live together and decide to raise a child together. That does feel very fairytale like as war is not kind to people. However, I really loved this ending for them because the ultimate act of rebellion in a world that hates who they are is to be happy. Also with the knowledge of how The Paper Girl of Paris ends, I loved that the author decided to write a book that did have something a little more unrealistic per say.

I kept getting emotional about how timely this book is while I was reading it. There’s been so many parallels drawn between today’s age and the 1930s, which does not surprise me. When Bruna sees her family and community rounded up despite following the Nazi’s orders to give them a certain amount of gold and they’d be untouched, my heart broke. I thought a lot about how us Americans are seeing immigrant communities, homes, farms, other places of work raided and they’re hauled away in zipties and handcuffs. I thought a lot about the saying that ICE detention is “temporary,” which Bruna knows the Nazi’s lie about when they say the same thing to the Jewish people. Generational trauma is a theme we see a lot in this book with each and every character and I know that right now, that type of trauma is being caused as well.

I’ve been to Rome twice now, and Italy a few times. While I know there is a WWII history, it was really interesting to read about it in a first person point-of-view. Typically you think of Germany, Austria, and Poland when thinking of WWII, but this told such a different and interesting story and I loved seeing the characters be in a resistance that’s truly fighting back.

I would highly recommend The Rebel Girls of Rome even if you haven’t read The Paper Girl of Paris.