
Our Forgotten Year
A Novel of Love and Hope in Italy During the Second World War
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jack Carmichael
-
By:
-
L.L. Abbott
About this listen
It’s the summer of 1942, and life is starting to become more and more dangerous for Italian Jews like the Russo family. In their quiet village, Antonio Gallo and Gabriella Russo lived as most youths did - unaware of the hope lost to their parents’ generation, but believing in a future for themselves.
As rumors begin to swell about the presence of resistance fighters and a possible American armistice, Germany sends Colonel Weber to Italy, and he begins to apply pressure on Caporale Gallo in a desperate effort to retain control of the southern region and its people.
Antonio and his Catholic family are layered with protection from his uncle’s place in Mussolini’s government while Gabriella’s Jewish family is left to the mercy of those around them.
For the two young Italians, the shadow of war begins to darken their plans of a future together when Gabriella’s family is forcibly transported to an internment camp in Ferramonti.
Despite Antonio’s efforts to gain information from his uncle or support from his father, he sets out on a mission to free the Russos from captivity and possible death.
Morals and loyalty begin to collide as people in the small Italian village are torn between doing what’s right and what needs to be done when the fascists and Nazis begin to rip innocent lives apart.
Antonio and Gabriella’s feelings deepen as they near the most dangerous point in their lives, and together, they face the fear that every step they take forward risks tearing them apart forever. Their love and dreams are alive among the ruins of the small town and in the face of constant danger, but eventually, they both begin to wonder if it will be enough.
©2021 L.L. Abbott (P)2025 L.L. AbbottListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Italian Ballerina
- A World War II Novel
- By: Kristy Cambron
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy's Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness sweeping through the quarantine wards--a fake disease known only as Syndrome K--she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Jewish Italians from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust.
-
-
Took me halfway through...
- By Mona-Alisa on 05-26-23
By: Kristy Cambron
-
The Little Liar
- A Novel
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is persuade his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading “north,” where new jobs and safety await. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy reassures passengers on the station platform every day.
-
-
Timeliness and timelessness
- By JStan on 02-25-24
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Last Green Valley
- A Novel
- By: Mark Sullivan
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves - murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century.
-
-
Too Religious
- By Laurie N. on 06-02-21
By: Mark Sullivan
-
Eternal
- By: Lisa Scottoline
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Edoardo Ballerini, Lisa Scottoline
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart.
-
-
Heartfelt Historic Fiction. A wonderful story !
- By Marie C. Hodge on 03-26-21
By: Lisa Scottoline
-
The Warsaw Orphan
- By: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson, Charlie Thurston
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1942, young Elzbieta Rabinek is aware of the swiftly growing discord just beyond the courtyard of her comfortable Warsaw home. She has no fondness for the Germans who patrol her streets and impose their curfews, but has never given much thought to what goes on behind the walls that contain her Jewish neighbors. She knows all too well about German brutality - and that it's the reason she must conceal her true identity. But in befriending Sara, Elzbieta makes a discovery that propels her into a dangerous world of deception and heroism.
-
-
Kelly did it again! 🥰
- By Eric Cardoza on 07-21-21
By: Kelly Rimmer
-
The Dressmaker's Gift
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik, Justine Eyre
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history - and their families - judge them? Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.
-
-
Fifty/Fifty
- By Eliza McNally on 10-28-19
By: Fiona Valpy
-
The Italian Ballerina
- A World War II Novel
- By: Kristy Cambron
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy's Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness sweeping through the quarantine wards--a fake disease known only as Syndrome K--she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Jewish Italians from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust.
-
-
Took me halfway through...
- By Mona-Alisa on 05-26-23
By: Kristy Cambron
-
The Little Liar
- A Novel
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is persuade his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading “north,” where new jobs and safety await. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy reassures passengers on the station platform every day.
-
-
Timeliness and timelessness
- By JStan on 02-25-24
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Last Green Valley
- A Novel
- By: Mark Sullivan
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves - murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century.
-
-
Too Religious
- By Laurie N. on 06-02-21
By: Mark Sullivan
-
Eternal
- By: Lisa Scottoline
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Edoardo Ballerini, Lisa Scottoline
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart.
-
-
Heartfelt Historic Fiction. A wonderful story !
- By Marie C. Hodge on 03-26-21
By: Lisa Scottoline
-
The Warsaw Orphan
- By: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson, Charlie Thurston
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1942, young Elzbieta Rabinek is aware of the swiftly growing discord just beyond the courtyard of her comfortable Warsaw home. She has no fondness for the Germans who patrol her streets and impose their curfews, but has never given much thought to what goes on behind the walls that contain her Jewish neighbors. She knows all too well about German brutality - and that it's the reason she must conceal her true identity. But in befriending Sara, Elzbieta makes a discovery that propels her into a dangerous world of deception and heroism.
-
-
Kelly did it again! 🥰
- By Eric Cardoza on 07-21-21
By: Kelly Rimmer
-
The Dressmaker's Gift
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik, Justine Eyre
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history - and their families - judge them? Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.
-
-
Fifty/Fifty
- By Eliza McNally on 10-28-19
By: Fiona Valpy
-
A Voice in the Darkness
- Memoir of a Rwandan Genocide Survivor
- By: Jeanne Lakin, Paul Lakin
- Narrated by: Sara Van Beckum
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1994, Jeanne Celestine, a young Rwandan schoolgirl, was living a quiet life in the countryside when the death of Rwanda’s president provoked a 100-day extermination of over one million ethnic Tutsis. She survived by hiding from violent militiamen all the while caring for her three-year-old twin sisters, Teddy and Teta.
-
-
Rising out of horror
- By Susan Karcz on 08-12-21
By: Jeanne Lakin, and others
-
My Friend Anne Frank
- The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds
- By: Hannah Pick-Goslar, Dina Kraft
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1933, Hannah Pick-Goslar and her family fled Nazi Germany to live in Amsterdam, where she struck up a close friendship with her next-door neighbor, an outspoken and fun-loving young girl named Anne Frank. For several years, the inseparable pair enjoyed a carefree childhood of games, sleepovers, and treats with the other children in their neighborhood of Rivierenbuurt. But in 1942, Hannah and Anne's lives abruptly changed forever.
-
-
the missing piece to Anne’s story and the complete picture of Hannah’s
- By Wilson on 07-13-23
By: Hannah Pick-Goslar, and others
-
The Keeper of Hidden Books
- A Novel
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving. With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club.
-
-
Audiobook of the year for me, truly exceptional!
- By john on 08-02-23
By: Madeline Martin
-
The Nine
- The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
- By: Gwen Strauss
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a 10-day journey across the front lines of World War II from Germany back to Paris. Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times.
-
-
Soooo good!
- By anne simpson on 09-28-21
By: Gwen Strauss
-
Remember Us
- My Journey from the Shtetl Through the Holocaust
- By: Vic Shayne, Martin Small
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Remember Us is a look back at the lost world of the shtetl: a wise Zayde offering prophetic and profound words to his grandson, the rich experience of Shabbos, and the treasure of a loving family. All this is torn apart with the arrival of the Holocaust, beginning a crucible fraught with twists and turns so unpredictable and surprising that they defy any attempt to find reason within them. Through the eyes of 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Martin Small, we learn that these priceless memories that are too painful to remember are also too painful to forget.
-
-
A Tragic and Rich Life, With Lessons For All
- By still reading on 03-17-16
By: Vic Shayne, and others
-
When We Were Brave
- A Completely Gripping and Emotional WW2 Historical Novel
- By: Suzanne Kelman
- Narrated by: Alison Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Present day, London: When Sophie discovers a photograph of her great aunt Vivi from World War II, it throws her into a world of confusion. Because, as she learns about this secret relative, she quickly realizes that the photograph doesn’t fit with her family’s story. It shows Vivi leaving an address associated with a spy network in London - a place she had no reason to be - and it is dated right before she disappeared.
-
-
One of THE best ww11 spy novels with 4 main characters
- By paula wright on 04-06-20
By: Suzanne Kelman
-
Chasing Shadows
- By: Lynn Austin
- Narrated by: Stina Nielsen
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of best-selling WWII fiction comes a powerful novel from Lynn Austin about three women whose lives are instantly changed when the Nazis invade the neutral Netherlands, forcing each into a complicated dance of choice and consequence.
-
-
EXCELLENT!l
- By Terry McNew on 06-28-21
By: Lynn Austin
-
The Light at Midnight
- A Historical Thriller Set During the Holocaust
- By: Tom Reppert
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen-year-old Rivka Resnik survives the brutal massacre of her family in Lithuania, only to spend the rest of the war fighting as a partisan against Nazi forces, then surviving as a prisoner in Auschwitz. Finally rescued and sent to America, Rivka soon faces the SS officer who commanded the death squads that murdered her family. Now, it is Rivka’s turn to become the hunter.
-
-
What a great audible book
- By paula wright on 04-08-21
By: Tom Reppert
-
The Invisible Woman
- By: Erika Robuck
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, March 1944. Virginia Hall wasn't like the other young society women back home in Baltimore - she never wanted the debutante ball or silk gloves. Instead, she traded a safe life for adventure in Europe, and when her beloved second home is thrust into the dark days of war, she leaps in headfirst. Once she's recruited as an Allied spy, subverting the Nazis becomes her calling. But even the most cunning agent can be bested, and in wartime trusting the wrong person can prove fatal.
-
-
A book that holds one's attention.
- By Dawn T. on 06-07-21
By: Erika Robuck
-
Code Name Sapphire
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.
-
-
Such a disappointment.
- By V. Temple on 03-29-23
By: Pam Jenoff
-
Once Night Falls
- By: Roland Merullo
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Italy, 1943. Luca Benedetto has joined the partisans in their fight against the German troops ravaging the shores of his town on Lake Como. While risking his life to free his country, Luca is also struggling to protect Sarah, his Jewish lover who’s hiding in a mountain cabin. As the violent Nazi occupation intensifies, Luca and Sarah fear for more than their own lives.
-
-
Joe the Sicilian
- By Carolyn Covello on 12-16-19
By: Roland Merullo
-
Children of the Stars
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1942. Jacob and Moses Stein, two young Jewish brothers, are staying with their aunt in Paris amid the Nazi occupation. The boys’ parents, well-known German playwrights, have left the brothers in their aunt’s care until they can find safe harbor for their family. But before the Steins can reunite, a great and terrifying roundup occurs. The French gendarmes, under Nazi order, arrest the boys and take them to the Vélodrome d’Hiver - a massive, bleak structure in Paris where thousands of France’s Jews are being forcibly detained.
-
-
Innocence can only be lost once
- By Kenny Russell on 09-01-21
By: Mario Escobar
What listeners say about Our Forgotten Year
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- neraks
- 01-21-22
Great historical WWII novel
This book is set in southern Italy. It takes place in a small town and explains what this town goes through in one year of the war. It is a story of family.
It is a story of love.
It is a story of how trust is tested in times of hardship
And it is a story of one of the worst cases of Racism in our world history.
I felt like I was living through this book with these characters. The book is full of emotion.
The narrator has a British accent. It was OK but some of the Italian words were not pronounced correctly. Especially some of the names.
If you like historical fiction read this book. You will love it!.
This book was a review copy and this is my honest review.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!