Miracle at St. Anna (original 2002; edition 2003)

This is a beautiful, beautiful, moving powerful book. I learned quite a bit about this region during the war and this story will stay with me for a long time. ( )

This book is about African American soldiers in World War 2. The soldiers are stranded in a town surrounded by Germans. The biggest soldier(Train) saves a kid , and finds something very special about him .

Over in Italy, 4 soldiers from the US Army's Negro 92nd Division are separated from their unit because of inept commands. They face the horror of having seen some of their platoon mates blown up and shot down in front of them. This is a story of how they found a quiet little village of St Anna di Stazzema in Tuscany, and how despite the horrors of war, they managed a few days of peace and relative normalcy among the villagers.

One soldier, Sam Train, is from the South, illiterate and a simple man ... he's also really large. All he wants is to get out of Italy and go home to his grandmother. He finds the marble head of the bust of Primavera, and thinks it's magic, so he keeps it with him at all times. He finds a little boy, shell-shocked and injured, hidden under a haystack, scoops him up, and tries to find medical help for him.

Bishop is a manipulative con-man, who found people would drown him in money if he pretended to be a preacher and dish out fire and brimstone sermons while telling his growing congregation not to give him money but to come to him only because they wanted their souls to be saved.

Hector is Hispanic, so he doesn't know why he's even with this division except that he's a little darker than his cousin who also signed up and was assigned to the white division. So he's disgruntled, has sleep apnea and definitely hates the war, hates Italy and figures he's got the short end of the stick being lumped with this lot.

The last, Stamps, is their lieutenant, tries to lead them back to their division but is challenged by their commander's demand at the base, that they hold their position until they capture a German soldier.

While fictitious, there's enough historical facts woven into this story to bring the the horror and terror of wartime Italy to the reader. The author also does a wonderful job of bringing out the depth of each character, and in the case of the separated soldiers, their memories and bitter resentment against the unfair treatment they faced back home before the war, in the war, and what they know they will once again face in terms of discrimination when they go home after the war.

This is one of those books that plucks at your heartstrings, brings tears of sorrow to your eyes, twists your gut in anger, and gives you a little chuckle every now and again. ( )

I usually don't read war novels but I loved this book. I grew attached to Train and the young boy instantly and I was at the edge of my seat every time they were in danger. This was a heartbreaking story of brotherhood and loyalty. And a great insight of all the pain that World War II caused. And the ending couldn't have been better. ( )

Overall, I found this book very rewarding. There were times in the middle, after the main plot had been solidified, that the author's tangents into Italian history and personal histories of characters intoduced midaway, were a bit mystifying. But, as I read those sections, I was wrapped up in them as a microcosm of the greater story.

McBride richly draws his characters in their own right, as the story progresses, which leads to a meeting of peoples with different histories, cultures, attitudes, and feelings.

You have the African-american soldiers, the Italian villagers, and the young Italian partisans. Each has their own agenda, their own needs, their own thoughts on surviving the war.

At its core, I found this book to be about the heart of Italy during WWII. It is about how much had been lost. Yet in the wake of such tragedy and death, hope, pride, love, and freedom came alive. ( )