Vila

Emily and Chess hope a trip to Italy will renew their friendship. Both have found success as writers. They have known each other since they were children. They stay at Villa Aestas, a grand holiday home in Orvieto. In 1974, it bore the name Villa Rosato. A tragedy there that year remains unsolved. It later led to a famous horror novel. It also inspired an album that won an award.

Emily looks into the house’s past and suspects a deeper story. She searches the novel and album for clues. Old secrets come to light as new acts of betrayal unfold. Then the villa claims another victim.

Rachel Hawkins’s Gothic thriller shifts between 1974 and the present. It suits readers who like dark tales of mystery. It explores friendship and envy between writers. Lost manuscripts, or written drafts, help shape its Gothic world. So do corrupt nobles and places far from other people. The story also has dark wit. Hawkins drew on Fleetwood Mac and the Charles Manson murders. She also drew on a summer at Lake Geneva. Mary and Percy Shelley spent it there with Lord Byron. That stay gave rise to Frankenstein.

Hawkins studied Victorian writing at Auburn University. Her focus was gender and sexuality. She lives in Alabama and also writes for young readers. Her books have come out in more than twelve languages. This edition forms part of the Fiction Connection series. Ioana Vacarescu translated the book from English. Its English title is The Villa.