The Woman who Shot Mussolini - Softcover

Saunders, Frances Stonor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571239781 ISBN 13: 9780571239788

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2010

Synopsis

7 April 1926: on the steps of the Capitol in Rome, surrounded by chanting Fascists, The Honourable Violet Gibson raises her old revolver and fires at the Italian head of state, the darling of Europe's ruling class. The bullet narrowly misses the dictator's bald head, hitting him in the nose. Of all his would-be assassins, she came closest to changing the course of history. What brought her to this moment? She was the daughter of an Anglo-Irish lord, had once consorted with royalty and the peerage. Yet terrible unhappiness lurked beneath that glittering surface. She was a serious-minded young woman in an age when girls were meant to marry well and think little. Her spiritual quest took her to a kind of left-wing Catholicism, sympathy for Irish nationalism and a passionate love for Italy. When Mussolini's thugs took it into the moral cesspit of Fascism, she felt she had to act. She paid for it for the rest of her life, confined to a lunatic asylum, like other difficult women of her class. Frances Stonor Saunders' moving and compulsively readable book rescues this gentle, driven woman from a silent void and restores her dignity and purpose.

About this title

Review:

"Saunders masterfully sketches the European aesthetic and intellectual ferment that followed World War I....She recounts all this with a dry wit, even a jauntiness, that contributes mightily to the book's pleasures." --"The""Cleveland Plain Dealer"

"A tour de force informed by the author's keen understanding of the social and political issues that galvanized the times. Moreover, Saunders's knowledge---and use---of English literature to animate Gibson's story gives it an elegance, depth, and sensibility that would have eluded less competent biographers." --"Minneapolis"" Star Tribune"

"Superb...poignant...Its wit and modesty make the book a beguiling detective story and, as such, a meditation on the limits of biography....Saunders writes with a clarity of purpose, an eloquence, and a satiric edge that refresh and astonish." --"The Nation"

"Absorbing...Saunders tells Violet's story with sympathy and insight. Her research unearths several gems." --"Financial Times" (UK)

Saunders masterfully sketches the European aesthetic and intellectual ferment that followed World War I .She recounts all this with a dry wit, even a jauntiness, that contributes mightily to the book's pleasures. "The Cleveland Plain Dealer"

A tour de force informed by the author's keen understanding of the social and political issues that galvanized the times. Moreover, Saunders's knowledge---and use---of English literature to animate Gibson's story gives it an elegance, depth, and sensibility that would have eluded less competent biographers. "Minneapolis Star Tribune"

Superb...poignant...Its wit and modesty make the book a beguiling detective story and, as such, a meditation on the limits of biography....Saunders writes with a clarity of purpose, an eloquence, and a satiric edge that refresh and astonish. "The Nation"

Absorbing Saunders tells Violet's story with sympathy and insight. Her research unearths several gems. "Financial Times (UK)""

"Saunders masterfully sketches the European aesthetic and intellectual ferment that followed World War I....She recounts all this with a dry wit, even a jauntiness, that contributes mightily to the book's pleasures." --The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"A tour de force informed by the author's keen understanding of the social and political issues that galvanized the times. Moreover, Saunders's knowledge---and use---of English literature to animate Gibson's story gives it an elegance, depth, and sensibility that would have eluded less competent biographers." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Superb...poignant...Its wit and modesty make the book a beguiling detective story and, as such, a meditation on the limits of biography....Saunders writes with a clarity of purpose, an eloquence, and a satiric edge that refresh and astonish." --The Nation

"Absorbing...Saunders tells Violet's story with sympathy and insight. Her research unearths several gems." --Financial Times (UK)

Book Description:

The Woman Who Shot Mussolini by Frances Stonor Saunders is a moving story of a woman forgotten by history, from the bestselling author of Hawkswood.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0571239781
• ISBN 13: 9780571239788
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384