Memories of war and a stolen childhood

For those who have lived through a war, recalling memories can be a heart-wrenching experience, and for one local author, immortalizing those memories was of utmost importance.

After hearing her mother’s war stories, Linda Ganzini knew they needed to be put to paper in the form of 'Lilia'.

“Lilia is based on my mother’s true story. It’s a coming of age and family saga set in Nazi occupied Northern Italy during World War Two,” Ganzini told Kelowna10. “It’s about a family and a village struggling to survive the battle between the forces of evil and the power of love.”

It was a difficult book to write, she said, spending lots of time with her mother, tearfully listening to stories.

The book took her four years to pen, but she never felt like she had to do it alone.

“It felt like my ancestors held me by the hand and guided me through their experiences and because I felt that from them, I could deliver it into this book encapsulated into this beautiful story,” she explained. “I had to live these events as though they were happening to me for you to read the book and feel what they felt.”

Her mother lost two brothers during the war, one to the fighting on the Eastern front and another to the brutal Nazi regime who sent him to the Flossenbürg concentration camp.

In 2018, she accepted an invitation to visit that site, and described it as one of the most harrowing experiences of her life; feeling as though she could sense the pain of those who lost their lives there.

Through this experience, she was able to learn more about her family’s story.

She said because her mother opened up to her, she has been able to touch so many people’s lives and help heal those who have experienced similar loss.

“I think that’s the gift of this book,” Ganzini said. “It’s a gift to not just us and our family, but all families who are wanting the missing piece to the puzzle of their parents’ history and grandparents' history.”