Review of Rose and Renzo by Carolyn O'Brien

Can an artistic and romantic connection survive political conflict? Ingenue and aspiring artist Rose is beguiled by Italian painter Renzo, but his secret past and mixed loyalties threaten to sever their burgeoning love affair.

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Manchester, 1936. Longstanding Italian and Jewish communities in the city are disturbed by the emergence of Mussolini’s fascists and Mosley’s Blackshirts, in turn fed by depression, unemployment and poverty. Newly orphaned Rose is brought to the city by her much older sister Ivy, denied her dream of studying art and coerced into a mundane job. 

Rose befriends the warm and gregarious Italian family nearby, despite Ivy’s disapproval. Enigmatic Renzo arrives from Paris and fulfils Rose’s thirst for artistic discussion. Rose soon falls for Renzo, ignoring the murky reasons for his visit to Manchester. Meanwhile, she befriends spiky Jewish colleague Freda, with disastrous results.

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The author deftly conjures up the complex sub-cultures of depression-era Manchester. I loved the dialogue, where second generation Italians freely mix Northern dialect with their mother tongue. Plus the conviviality of the extended family who own the cafe and their dedication to Catholic traditions. The depiction of the impoverished Jewish quarter was shocking, amid the chilling threat of violent Blackshirts.

Rose is a dreamer who flits easily between different communities, blissfully unaware of simmering tensions, in contrast to her more judgemental sister. Rose devotes more energy into putting together avant garde outfits, planning gallery visits or sketching than wondering why Manchester’s patchwork of inhabitants hold such strong prejudices against each other.

Renzo is a charismatic and mysterious character, but he is clearly hiding behind the language barrier to withhold information about his past from Rose. The story unfolds entirely from Rose’s point of view, so we only understand Renzo’s hinterland in the last few chapters of the novel.

After a slow burn romance for the first two thirds of the book, there is an explosion of action and revelation in the final chapters, with a slightly disconcerting switch to London’s East End.

Rose and Renzo is neither a classic love story, nor a political thriller, landing somewhere between the two. It is worth reading for the depiction of the complex dynamics of Manchester’s immigrant communities, and the political idealism of the nascent Communist movement in the face of the rise of European Fascists.

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I was sent a free advance copy by the publisher. This is my honest review.

Published by Northodox Press on 14 May 2026
Pre-order here: https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/rose-renzo-paperback

Author: Carolyn O’Brien https://www.instagram.com/carolynmanc/

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