One Good Thing

The narrative begins in Ferrara, Italy, in December 1940. Lili Passigli sits with her best friend, Esti Ezratti, who is in labor. Esti’s husband, Niko, is uncharacteristically absent. Lili helps Esti get to the hospital, where Niko arrives shortly before Esti gives birth to their son, Theo. In the quiet moments after the birth, Esti voices her fears about raising a Jewish child under Mussolini’s recently enacted Racial Laws. Lili tries to comfort her, recalling the happier time of Niko’s proposal two years earlier, which occurred the week after the antisemitic Manifesto della razza (Manifesto of Race) was announced, altering the course of their lives.

In March 1941, Lili visits her father, Massimo, in Bologna. They discuss the impact of the Racial Laws, which have cost Lili her job at a newspaper and forced Massimo to transfer ownership of his properties to a Catholic friend, Settimo, to prevent confiscation. Their visit is marred by an evening at the cinema, where they are subjected to antisemitic propaganda. The following day, they visit the grave of Lili’s mother, Naomi.

A month later, Lili and Esti take a trip to Rimini. Esti reveals that Niko has been working with Delasem, an organization aiding Jewish emigrants, to bring his family from Salonica, Greece. At a hotel where Lili’s family once vacationed, the clerk denies them a room because Lili’s ID is stamped DI RAZZA EBRAICA, identifying her as Jewish. Esti erupts in anger, creating a scene. On the drive home, Lili confronts Esti about her impulsiveness, urging caution for Theo’s sake. Esti reluctantly agrees to be more careful.

During Rosh Hashanah services in September 1941, the Ferrara synagogue is raided and ransacked by Blackshirts (known formally as Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, or MVSN, the paramilitary force of the National Fascist Party). In the ensuing chaos, Niko attacks one of the Blackshirts and holds him at gunpoint until the Italian police intervene. The following month, police issue a warrant for Niko’s arrest, accusing him of being a communist. Niko flees Italy, planning to travel to Greece to rescue his family. Esti then reveals to Lili that she and Niko are part of an underground group forging false Aryan identification cards. Fearing for her safety, Esti asks to move in with Lili, who agrees to help care for Theo while Esti continues her dangerous work.

By September 1942, Esti is asked by Delasem to go to Villa Emma, a Nonantola residence housing young Jewish refugees, to create false IDs. She convinces a hesitant Lili to move there with her and Theo. They live in Nonantola for a year, posing as missionaries. In March 1943, they learn of a massive roundup of Jews in Salonica and lose contact with Niko. In July, the Allies invade Sicily, and Mussolini is arrested. In September, Italy surrenders to the Allies, prompting Germany to occupy the northern and central parts of the country. With German troops approaching Nonantola, the Villa Emma staff, including Lili and Esti, work through the night to evacuate the 72 children, hiding them in the homes of local villagers just before the Germans arrive.

Goffredo Pacifici, a leader at the villa, sends Esti to Florence, where her counterfeiting skills are needed by an underground network led by Cardinal Dalla Costa. Lili and Theo accompany her, stopping in Bologna to give Massimo a false ID. In Florence, they stay with a priest, Father Aldo, but an Allied air raid forces them to seek refuge in a Franciscan convent, where they pose as nuns.

In November 1943, Lili witnesses a brutal roundup of Jews by SS and Blackshirt soldiers. Days later, the convent is raided by a notorious fascist gang. While Lili hides, Esti tries to save another Jewish woman and is brutally beaten. Severely injured and with her false papers confiscated, Esti begs Lili to take Theo and flee to an underground contact in Assisi. Heartbroken, Lili agrees, taking Esti’s wedding ring for safekeeping.

Lili and Theo escape to Cardinal Dalla Costa, who arranges for them to be escorted to the home of Adelmo and Eva Giardini in Castelnuovo Berardenga. When a neighbor threatens to report them for reward money, they flee again, traveling by bicycle to Assisi. There, Father Rufino Niccacci arranges for them to stay with a local woman, Isabella, and introduces Lili to Luigi Brizi, a printer secretly making false IDs. In February 1944, another threat forces them to leave Assisi. Father Niccacci advises them to travel to Rome on foot and asks Lili to deliver a secret parcel of forged documents to his contact there, Sister Natalia. Along their journey, they receive help from various strangers, including a band of partisans who are escorting refugees south.

Lili and Theo join the group, which includes a young Jewish woman named Matilde who tells Lili that the Nazi camps in the east are death camps. While foraging for potatoes, the partisans are shot at and forced to flee deeper into the forest. Lili later leaves the partisans after Theo sprains his ankle, requiring medical care. When they finally arrive in Rome, Lili delivers the parcel to Sister Natalia and discovers that Matilde left them the address of a safehouse.

In May, Theo wanders off and is found by a man in a German uniform who is actually Thomas “Tommy” Driscoll, an escaped American POW. Recalling past kindness shown to her, Lili agrees to hide him. A romance develops between them, and Thomas forms a close bond with Theo. When a neighbor reports Lili for harboring a man, accusing her of hiding a Jew, a GNR officer confronts her. To protect Thomas, Lili bribes the officer with Esti’s wedding ring. On June 4, 1944, the Allies liberate Rome. Thomas reunites with his unit and leaves, promising to return. He comes back two days later, revealing his unit was decimated and he will remain in Rome to train a new company. In July, he is shipped out to the front.

In August 1944, after Florence is liberated, Lili takes Theo to the convent. Sister Lotte informs her that an Auschwitz survivor has confirmed that Esti and the other women were taken to the camp; because Esti was injured, it is implied she was killed upon arrival. Devastated, Lili takes Theo to her family’s apartment in Bologna, where she is shocked to find her father, Massimo, who had returned from Switzerland hoping she would eventually come home. Concerned for his poor health, Lili convinces him to go back.

Life in occupied Bologna is difficult, which is not liberated until April 1945. After the war ends in May, Thomas appears at Lili’s door. He asks her and Theo to start a new life with him in America, and Lili accepts. Massimo makes a surprise visit from Switzerland to give his blessing.

Lili, Thomas, and Theo board the SS Campagna in Naples, bound for New York. As the ship departs, Lili reflects on her journey of survival, her profound losses, and the memories she will carry with her. She turns away from the disappearing Italian coastline and looks toward the open sea and her future.