Description

A thrilling biography of Benito Mussolini’s favourite daughter, and a heart-stopping account of the unravelling of the Fascist dream in Italy

‘Engrossing… Moorehead has a spirited turn of phrase, a keen eye for the telling detail and pungent quote, and a gift for marshaling complex material’ Jenny Uglow, New York Times Book Review

Edda Mussolini was Benito’s favourite daughter: spoilt, venal and uneducated but also clever, brave, and ultimately loyal. She was her father’s confidante during the 20 years of Fascist rule and married Foreign Secretary Galeazzo Ciano, making them the most celebrated couple in Roman fascist society.

Their fortunes turned in 1943, when Ciano voted against Mussolini in a plot to bring him down. In a dramatic story that takes in hidden diaries, her father’s fall and her husband’s execution, we come to know a complicated, bold and determined woman who emerges not just as a witness but as a key player in some of the twentieth century’s defining moments.

‘Vividly told, engrossing history’ CLARE MULLEY, author of The Women Who Flew for Hitler

‘Precise, empathic . . . a profoundly satisfying, albeit wistful, read and . . . a worryingly relevant one’ GUARDIAN

Publisher Review

It's testament to Moorehead's precise, empathic prose that Edda emerges not as the Duce's devilish scion, but as a wounded, fragile being... It makes for a profoundly satisfying, albeit wistful, read and - give the recent victory of Giorgia Meloni in the Italian elections - a worryingly relevant one * Guardian * Interesting and original... Moorehead is a fine writer and a conscientious historian * Spectator * [Moorehead] brilliantly sketches the background of Mussolini and his regime -- R J B Bosworth * LIterary Review * Painstakingly researched and vividly told, this engrossing history turns the spotlight on the deeply conflicted Edda Mussolini, brilliantly balancing the big picture with a wealth of telling detail -- CLARE MULLEY, author of The Women Who Flew for Hitler Caroline Moorehead writes with her characteristic elegance, eye for detail and authoritative knowledge about a monster and a survivor. The story of Mussolini's glamorous daughter is certainly a fascinating one -- MIRANDA SEYMOUR, author of I Used to Live Here Once