小说基于真实故事，讲述的是二战时一批反抗纳粹爱国者在意大利小城营救犹太人的故事。此书一度荣登Amazon最热销小说榜首，有超过3万多的留言评论，拿到4.7 out of 5 stars, 可谓取得了巨大成功。但作者坦言，在写这书之前，由于生活的压力和弟弟的去世，他一度想轻生，就在这人生最低谷时，他无意中听到朋友提起了一段意大利人反抗纳粹的故事，他决定要把那段被遗忘的历史写下来。为了写书他特地到了意大利的那个小城，并采访到了当事人Pino。在书开头的引言他写道：
…Drive alone on a Montana highway at dusk, I started thinking about my insurance policies and realized that I was worth much more to my family dead than alive. I contemplated driving into a freeway abutment. It was snowy, and the lift was low. No one would have suspected suicide.
…My personal problems, and my life in general, seemed small and insignificant in comparison to what he'd endured at an unfathomably young age…
小说有两根故事线，一个是讲述Pino 如何在山林里做领路人，把犹太人安全送到中立国瑞士的，还有一条线就是Pino和Anna的凄美爱情故事。 我这里想说说第二条线，也是最让我感动的一段故事，甚至在看完这本书后的一两个星期，我都没从情节中走出来。下面几节是我印象最深的选段，作者剧本式的写法，情景如放电影一般在读者眼前展现。
Pino第一次在街上无意中看到Anna时就被她迷住了，这个桥段让我想到了电影阳光灿烂的日子里的夏雨和宁静搭讪的镜头。
…A tawny-blond woman with slate-blue eyes was coming down the sidewalk right at them. He guessed her to be in her early twenties. She was beautifully put together, with a gentle nose, high cheek bones, and lips that curled naturally into an easy smile. Svelte and of medium height….
“I am sorry, I was overcome by your beauty and had to meet you…would you like to see a movie with me tonight…”
She finally turned her head to look over at him with those pierceing eyes “How old are you?” “Almost eighteen.”She laughed “You are kind of young for me” …
最后电影没看成，因为当天晚上正好有空袭警报，Pino后来去做了领路人，那段日子异常艰辛，但他每次想到Anna 时他就有了坚持下去的理由：
He had faith he'd see Anna again. She'd become this fantasy he clung to, a story he told himself whenever he was lonely or uncertain about his future…
Pino 到十八岁后，必须参军，他父母不想让他去当炮灰，托关系不让他去，后来却阴差阳错当上了纳粹军官的司机，他和军官去军官情妇Dolly家时，没想到撞见了Anna，这个重逢让读者非常意外：
He heard footsteps. The door opened inward, and his entire life changed. Flashing her slate-blue eyes at him and smiling, the maid said, “You are the general's new driver?”
Pino wanted to reply, but he was so stunned that he couldn't. His heart boomed in his chest. …Finally, he just nodded. “I hope you don't drive like you talk,” she laughed, playing with the braid of her tawny-blond hair with one hand and gesturing him inside with the other. Pino stepped past her, smelled her, and felt so dizzy he thought he might fall. “I'm Dolly's maid,” she said behind him. “You can call me—” “Anna,” Pino said…
Pino 最终赢得了女神的芳心，他们的恋情一直持续到了战争结束，正当Pino 准备向Anna求婚时，Anna却被当成叛国贼抓了起来，准备枪决，Pino当时在场，却救不了她，枪决这一段写得非常惨，说实话我没想到女主人公居然会被写死了，
Anna started screaming, “No! I'm not a whore! I'm not a collaborator! I'm a maid. That's all I am. Someone, please believe me. I'm just a maid!”...
..“My God!” Anna wailed. “Someone tell them I'm just a maid!”
“Aim.” Pino's mouth opened. He looked at the fighter, who was studying him, suspicious now. …
The rifle shots rang out like cymbals and kettledrums. Anna-Marta took a bullet to her heart. She bucked up at the impact, looking surprised before seeming to gaze toward Pino, as if her spirit had sensed him there and called out for him in that last moment before she crumpled back against the wall, and died in the dust.
最后Pino费劲千心万苦在死人堆里找到了Anna, 捧着尸身痛不欲生！
There was a bullet hole below Anna's bra, and a flower of blood on her exposed belly similar to the one on Dolly. Whore had been written across her brow in the same red gloss the partisans had used to make her lips look so garish.
“I was there,” Pino said. “I saw you die, and I said nothing, Anna. I did . . .” The pain threw tears from his eyes and doubled him over. “What did I do?” he moaned. “What did I do?”
Pino 后来有过几段婚姻都不欢而散，他始终不能原谅自己没能救下Anna，如今年近90的他说了如下的话:
"But after everything, and even when the skies turn scarlet and threatening, I still believe that if we are lucky enough to be alive, we must give thanks for the miracle of every moment of every day, no matter how flawed. And we must have faith in God, and in the Universe, and in a better tomorrow, even if that faith is not always deserved."
