3.5 stars for this 1947 thriller/suspense novel, set in the mountains of Italy in the post-WWII era ... so it’s [image] The Dolomite mountains in Italy
3.5 stars for this 1947 thriller/suspense novel, set in the mountains of Italy in the post-WWII era ... so it’s a safe bet that there will be a bunch of Nazis menacing our hero. British journalist Neil Blair, recently released (demobbed) from the army, is having a hard time finding a decent job. He happens to run into his former superior officer, Engles, who offers him a job ostensibly writing a film script in an isolated ski chalet in the Dolomites, but Blair’s real job is to keep his eyes open and report anything unusual. If a usable script comes out of the trip too, so much the better.
Turns out there’s an awful lot to report. Something valuable is stashed up in those mountains in or near the chalet, and there are several different players who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
The Lonely Skier shows its age sometimes, with stereotypical characters. But the thriller parts are generally done well, with the exception of a scene or two that I found too hard to swallow. Still, there’s a really hair-raising chase in the snowy, foggy mountains that I won’t soon forget, and a solid ending with a good twist.
In this recent novella sequel to Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero's daughter Miranda travels back to Milan with him and finds life a lot more unpleIn this recent novella sequel to Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero's daughter Miranda travels back to Milan with him and finds life a lot more unpleasant than she expected. Everyone treats her like some kind of monster, she's confined to her rooms and only allowed out with a heavy veil, her fiance Ferdinand has disappeared, and her father is distant and uninterested in her welfare. The only bright spot in Miranda's life is one of the maids, Dorothea. Maybe she can help Miranda figure out what's gone wrong?
It's a warmhearted and well-intentioned novella that puts a very different twist on Shakespeare's story, with distinctly modern social views and occasionally veering into preachiness. It got a little too clunky for me and the plot didn't always flow smoothly or make total sense, but it had its moments. If a queer, feminist fantasy take on Renaissance Italy sounds like your cuppa tea, I'd recommend it.
Available for free right now as part of a set of four Tor LGBTQ+ novellas, with Tor's ebook of the month club....more
Update: July 2022 reread for my IRL book club. I'm in charge of leading the discussion in a few hours. Wish me luck! Oh yeah, still a 5-star book.
OrigUpdate: July 2022 reread for my IRL book club. I'm in charge of leading the discussion in a few hours. Wish me luck! Oh yeah, still a 5-star book.
Original review: Amazing book! This is really an excellent historical novel, with just a trace of fantasy. If you haven't read one of GGK's recent novels, you owe it to yourself to give him a try. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Guy Gavriel Kay writes magical books. Not magic in the sense of mighty wizards and spellcasting with unicorn-hair wands and cauldrons bubbling with potions best not tasted. The magic in Kay’s novels is a more elusive thing. He takes a plot and cast of characters, ones that would be interesting enough even in the hands of lesser authors, and turns them into something extraordinary through his lyrical and profoundly thoughtful storytelling, his insights into human character and motivations, and his musings on life and its meaning.
We like to believe, or pretend, we know what we are doing in our lives. It can be a lie. Winds blow, waves carry us, rain drenches a man caught in the open at night, lightning shatters the sky and sometimes his heart, thunder crashes into him bringing the awareness he will die.
We stand up, as best we can under that. We move forward as best we can, hoping for light, kindness, mercy, for ourselves and those we love.
A Brightness Long Ago, like most of his recent novels, is what Kay aptly describes as “history with a quarter turn to the fantastic.” It’s a prequel of sorts (though a stand-alone read) to his equally excellent 2016 novel Children of Earth and Sky, set some twenty-five years before the events of that novel, in a slightly fantastical version of Renaissance Italy, here called Batiara. (I spent more time than I should have, researching to figure out the real-life counterparts of all the cities and historical characters that play a role in this story. Seressa is Venice, Rome is Rhodias, Sarantium is Constantinople, and so forth.) Inspired by the feud between historical figures Federico da Montefeltro and Sigismondo Malatesta, two great military leaders, Kay tells of the clashes ― both military and personal ― between Folco Cino, lord of Acorsi, and Teobaldo Monticola, lord of Remigio. Their lives, and that of Folco’s niece Adria, a rebellious duke’s daughter, are seen through the eyes of Guidanio (Danio) Cerra, the son of a tailor.
Danio, who narrates most of the tale as the reminiscing of an older man, is chosen to receive an education with the children of nobility because of his intelligence and quickness, raising him far above his humble beginnings. After finishing his schooling he obtains a position in the palace of Count Uberto, known as “the Beast” for his violent and even murderous sexual proclivities.
There were stories of youthful bodies carried out through the smaller palace gates in the dark, dead and marred. And good men still served him ― making their peace with our god as best they could.
Balancing acts of the soul. Acquiescence happens more than its opposite ― a rising up in anger and rejection. There are wolves in the world, inside elegant palaces as well as in the dark woods and the wild.
But Falco (admittedly for his own self-serving reasons) and his niece Adria have concocted a scheme to bring Uberto down. They set Adria up in a farmhouse outside of the city and eventually, almost inevitably, word of the attractive farm girl comes to Uberto and she is summoned to his palace. When Danio sees Adria being brought to Uberto’s suite of rooms and recognizes her as the duke’s daughter who once visited his school, that recognition could be deadly to either Danio or Adria. Or it might prove of immeasurable benefit to both of them.
A Brightness Long Ago follows Danio and Adria, Folco and Teobaldo, and others through the next year or two, as their lives touch and separate and then interweave again. Adria is a particularly bright spark, a spirited and courageous young woman who is doing her best to live a life outside of the normal restrictions on noblewomen, though she knows the freedom she’s found can only be for a limited time. Doors of opportunity open and then close. Her participation in a particularly unusual horse race in Bischio is a high point in the story, where multi-layered plans and schemes of various characters collide in a truly spectacular way.
In his narration, Danio frequently comments on “the random spinning of fortune’s wheel” and how chance occurrences can affect the entire direction of our lives. Our lives aren’t always in our control. But he realizes that personal choices have an equal impact on the path of our lives.
Fortune’s wheel might spin, but you could also choose to spin it, see how it turned, where it took you, and she was still young, and this was the life she wanted.
Kay weaves a pleasurably complex tale with a large cast of characters, but these characters are so vividly drawn and memorable that I never got confused. Kay’s storytelling evinces understanding and sympathy for even deeply flawed characters, even those who served the Beast and were aware of the terrible things he did to innocent youths.
I think, it is the best thought I have, that he was devoted to the idea of being loyal, in a world with little of that. That a man needed to drop an anchor somewhere, declare a truth, find a harbour… Perhaps in the darkest times all we can do is refuse to be part of the darkness.
In his later years, Danio recalls the unforgettable characters from this time in his youth, who still shine as bright torches in his memory. Their brightness will linger in mine as well.
I received a free copy of this novel for review from the publisher through NetGalley. Thank you so much!
Content notes: A few scattered F-bombs; a mildly explicit sex scene; attempted sexual assault....more
3.25 stars. Kindle freebie romance time again! (Now back to its 99c price point.) Gladly Beyond is an interesting twist on the paranormal romance genr3.25 stars. Kindle freebie romance time again! (Now back to its 99c price point.) Gladly Beyond is an interesting twist on the paranormal romance genre, involving an ancient gypsy gift/curse that gave the D'Angelo family the Sight, a powerful ability to see and hear both the future and the past, that passes from one first-born son to the next and inevitably drives them to suicide. Now the Gift has splintered between three triplets, easing the burden somewhat. Dante D'Angelo and his brother use their gift in their profession of assessing the authenticity and provenance of antiques. A full-time job being offered by a wealthy man called the Colonel (after Colonel Sanders, because of his KFC initials and appearance) could be just the thing to get the D'Angelo family back on solid financial ground.
Claire Raythorn, in the same profession, comes to Florence, Italy to try to rebuild her reputation after a couple of major setbacks, but finds she is competing for the same lucrative job not only with Dante but also Pierce, her ex-fiance. Pierce and she had a huge blowup a few months ago when she caught him in bed with another woman. Pierce unkindly posted an online video of Claire's meltdown (screaming and throwing everything in reach at him ... including tampons), which went viral, and now the whole world is laughing at Claire's perceived craziness.
So Claire's self-confidence and trust in men have been shattered ... which makes it tough when she and Dante share a mysterious connection, one he's very anxious to explore with her, despite their job competition. Meanwhile, Pierce is competing for the job as well, while being his smarmy jerk self and trying to win Claire back. And there's something odd about the Colonel, who is a little too interested in Claire personally. Not to mention Claire's anonymous stalker ...
Anyway, that's the set-up, and actually there's a lot to like about this book if you enjoy romances with a side of paranormal stuff, including reincarnation and past lives that affect the present. (I have to say I did enjoy the idea of Napoleon being reincarnated as Dante's mother's pet rat.)
Problems: The whole curse/reincarnation thing played out in some intriguing but rather inconsistent ways. And Claire's whole "I'm broken and will never love again" thing went on for way too long and was just a drag on the overall story after a while, not to mention the romance itself. I liked Dante a lot, but he's a Gary Stu character, practically perfect in every way, with no discernible flaws, not to mention smokin' hot (of course).
I'd recommend this to readers who love light romance novels and enjoy paranormal plots. The Italy setting was fun, and after making my mouth water with the descriptions of Italian food, the author was kind enough to include a recipe for roasted lemon-herb chicken at the end which I am FOR REAL going to try one of these days....more
2.5 stars. Jean Webster, best known for her charming 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, also wrote this 1907 bit of fluff novel, Jerry Junior. Jerry (Junior)2.5 stars. Jean Webster, best known for her charming 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, also wrote this 1907 bit of fluff novel, Jerry Junior. Jerry (Junior) is a wealthy upper-class American, a handsome young man whiling away several days in an Italian village, waiting for his sister and aunt to arrive. He's getting very bored, so when the hotel waiter tells him about a lovely young American woman staying in a nearby villa, he decides to drop by (without an invitation or introduction, gasp!) and meet her.
Unfortunately, Jerry and Constance get off on the wrong foot, and she dismisses him without a whole lot of thought. Jerry, angry and a little humiliated, is about to leave town when he overhears Constance discussing him with her father at the hotel's restaurant, admitting he was handsome and slightly regretful about how it played out. Since Jerry's attracted to her, he decides not to leave town after all. When he also overhears her asking for an Italian guide for some hiking the next day (“He must have curly hair and black eyes and white teeth and a nice smile; I should like him to wear a red sash and earrings.”) Jerry - in a burst of dubious inspiration - decides to disguise himself as their guide (though he speaks almost no Italian).
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The next day during the hike, Constance makes him almost immediately but decides not to let on that she recognizes him, and flirts with several handsome Italian officers just to make Jerry jealous. Jerry digs himself deeper with lies and scheming, but also manages to do some close-up flirting with Constance. When Jerry's sister finally arrives, the plot thickens further.
So this one didn't appeal to me all that much, though readers of old-fashioned romances might get a kick out of it. There's some amusing dialogue, but I was too annoyed with Jerry and Constance's relentless game-playing with each other. I got kind of bored with the whole story and started skimming after a while, though it picks up a bit toward the end. There's also a strong dose of unexamined classism and stereotyping of Italian characters, nothing wildly out of line (it's pretty typical for a century-old novel) but it didn't help Jerry Junior's case.
This is a Gutenberg and Amazon freebie, but I'd only recommend it to those who really love retro romances ... which I generally do, but not so much in this case. Too bad! The Gutenberg version does contain some charming Gibson Girl-type illustrations.
Helen MacInnes' 1963 Cold War spy thriller still packs a pretty good punch.
Bill Fenner, one of those competent amateur sleuths/spies that MacInnes isHelen MacInnes' 1963 Cold War spy thriller still packs a pretty good punch.
Bill Fenner, one of those competent amateur sleuths/spies that MacInnes is fond of, is a drama critic and an ex-journalist, and also an ex-operative of sorts. He travels from New York City to Paris, I think to write a play and vacation? Anyway, neither of those things happens. He starts with an accidentally traded raincoat in a fortuitous airport mixup, finds a major surprise hidden in the other person's raincoat, makes contact with some embassy folks, and it all kind of goes wild from there. Oh, and there's a girl, another amateur spy of sorts. She's quite competent as well, with some allowances for 1960s culture.
I was rather bored by the first half and was having some trouble keeping all of the players straight, but once our main characters jumped on a train going from Paris to Venice and more pieces of the conspiracy were disclosed, everything started coming together for me. I couldn't put this book down while I was reading the second half.
2 1/2 stars for the first half but 5 for the second half. And now I really want to travel to Venice. :)
Review first posted on www. FantasyLiterature.com:
In Naomi Novik’s “Vici,” a satirical romp set in ancient Rome, young and dissolute Antonius is beingReview first posted on www. FantasyLiterature.com:
In Naomi Novik’s “Vici,” a satirical romp set in ancient Rome, young and dissolute Antonius is being sentenced for having massive unpaid debts as well as for the murder of another Roman (it's not clear which is worse in the eyes of the law, but I think it's the debts). Since Anthony is the son of a senator, the magistrate gives him the option, in lieu of execution, to single-handedly try to slay a particularly problematic dragon that has moved into northern Italy ― it being understood that death is virtually certain, but at least it’s an honorable death, and the attempt will clear his debts and sentence. Anthony accepts, thinking he might manage to sneak away somehow, but several unsympathetic guards escort him to the ravine where the enormous dragon is living with its hoard, hand him a spear and a wooden (!) shield, and shove him into the ravine.
The story gets even more amusing from there. I don’t want to give too much away, but Anthony eventually discovers that that a life of dissipation isn’t as fun as he always thought it would be … and that dragon eggs may unexpectedly hatch dragons that can speak (“I think I have worked out how to breathe fire, Antony. Would you like to see?”). Both the orgies and the dragon make Anthony a particularly unwelcome neighbor.
The dragon Vincitatus, called Vici for short (an amusing reference to the Latin “Veni, vidi, vici” ― “I came; I saw; I conquered”) has a lively personality, and is a good foil to the jaded, superficial Anthony. “Vici” is a prequel of sorts to Novik’s TEMERAIRE dragon fantasy series, which is set much later, during Napoleonic times. This humorous short story has a far different tone and style than Novik’s more recent Uprooted, but it’s an entertaining (dragon) ride.
3.5 stars, rounding up. This short story is free to read online at Fantasy Magazine. ...more
Katherine Wilson, rich, WASP, overweight and over-sensitive, travels to Naples, Italy for a post-college internship and to Experience the World. She iKatherine Wilson, rich, WASP, overweight and over-sensitive, travels to Naples, Italy for a post-college internship and to Experience the World. She is quickly introduced to the Avallone family, which conveniently has a son Katherine's age. She and Salvatore get lined up, they go hang out with his family for the evening, and Katherine begins to learn how Italians (specifically the Napoli variety) think far differently than Americans, and yet how we're all alike in other ways.
This was a pleasant read for the most part, as Katherine relates various episodes from her life in Italy and her growing relationship with Salva. Her mother-in-law-to-be is in fact an amazing person. The author's voice is often self-deprecating and sometimes the stories were a bit too "warts and all" for my comfort. (These are real people and her family! Wasn't she a little worried that some of them would take offense?) Her comparisons and analysis of the different cultures are sometimes on the superficial side, and overall the episodes from her life didn't entirely coalesce into a whole in the way I would have liked, but the stories were interesting and amusing enough to keep me going.
I was fascinated by the practice of octopus-pounding to make it tender and edible, which is a thing I first noticed just a few weeks ago in reading The Moon-Spinners. There was the funniest family argument about a tough octopus salad:
We all taste the octopus. “È duro ’sto polipo.”
It is Nino who has broken the silence. He speaks with his mouth full, exaggerating the movement of trying to cut through the chewy octopus with his overworked molars. Have I understood correctly? Has he just said that the octopus is tough, no good? “È buonissimo! È buonissimo!” I start my performance immediately. It’s fabulous! It’s fabulous! Let’s pretend Nino didn’t say that!
I am completely ignored.
Salvatore seconds his father’s statement. “Ha ragione Papà.” Daddy’s right.
After an excruciating silence, Pia declares, “Toto, this octopus you caught is really tough.” Not the octopus that we cooked. The octopus that you caught. Fightin’ words.
“Lella, did you perhaps forget to beat it?” Toto asks Raffaella nonchalantly. Since he is certain that his octopus was not by nature tough, the only question he has for his sister is where she went wrong. Raffaella was supposed to mash the octopus with a hammer before performing the dunking torture, Toto explains with authority, even though I suspect that he has never cooked an octopus.
The recipes at the end were intriguing, but have too many exotic ingredients and take too long to prepare and cook, for me to be seriously interested in trying them myself.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free arc of this book!...more
Possibly my favorite Edgar Allen Poe story! Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Our narrator Montresor, an Italian nobleman, explains ― iPossibly my favorite Edgar Allen Poe story! Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Our narrator Montresor, an Italian nobleman, explains ― in a suspiciously vague way ― how his friend Fortunato has mortally offended and insulted him. Montresor sets himself on a course of implacable revenge … but he wants to do so in a way that Fortunato understands that Montresor is the source of revenge, but without being caught or punished.
Montresor and Fortunato meet during a carnival festival ― which at first seems by chance, but then you find out that Montresor has set up the situation so that all of his servants are gone (he told them that he would be out all night, but that they were NOT permitted to leave, and counted on the lure of the carnival to do the rest). Montresor tells Fortunato that he has bought a cask of fine Amontillado sherry at full price, but he isn’t certain if it’s the real thing. Fortunato, a connoisseur of old wines, volunteers to taste it.
And so the two go (Montresor first donning a mask) to Montresor’s palazzo and then into the depths of its damp catacombs hung with white webs of nitre, Montresor protesting all the time that his friend really shouldn’t come, but all the time luring him in like an evil-hearted spider …
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“The Cask of Amontillado” is one of Poe’s truly memorable horror stories, a tale of vengeance, and more enigmatic and complex than it appeared to me on first read, many years ago. Poe, as always, is great at atmosphere and setting. It’s a tense revenge tale with some black humor, and some interesting ambiguities about guilt. There are so many ironic and symbolic details that add depth to the story: The irony of Fortunato’s name, the “supreme madness of the carnival season” that echoes the narrator’s mental state, the fool costume that Fortunato is wearing at the carnival, and many more. “Montresor” could be translated from French as “my treasure”; it leads one to mull over what exactly is the narrator’s treasure.
One of my favorite Ray Bradbury stories, Usher II (part of his Martian Chronicles story collection) is in part a tribute to "The Cask of Amontillado."...more
Four proper English ladies, who don't know each other at all, decide to pool their resources and rent an Italian villa for a month, in the 1920's. TheFour proper English ladies, who don't know each other at all, decide to pool their resources and rent an Italian villa for a month, in the 1920's. They all have different personalities and there are some conflicting expectations. To make matters worse, (view spoiler)[the husband of one of the women, who has had an estranged marriage, shows up pursuing one of the other women, without realizing his wife is another of the guests (hide spoiler)]. How can this possibly not go south really fast?
[image] I saw the movie version of this book when it came out about 1992. Somehow I talked my fiancée (now husband) into seeing it with me; memory and imagination fail as to how exactly I pulled that off. So we're watching the first part of the movie as these British ladies try to figure out how to pull off a month-long vacation trip to Italy (without husbands), and their lives are dreary, and they arrive in Italy and it's dark and rainy and everyone's confused and upset, and my guy and I are both thinking, man, this is so going to be either bleak or angsty, which is so not either of our thing.
Then morning dawns and it's just absolutely lovely. And the rest of the movie is too.
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So I'm surprised that it took me so long to read this 1922 book, especially since it's a Gutenberg freebie. But I finally did, and it's as delightful as the movie, though there are a few interesting differences.* What I most appreciated in this book is the additional insights into the characters, and how they grow and are changed by Italy and by their association with each other. When two of the ladies initially show some real selfishness in Italy, one of the other ladies, Rose, wants to fight back and assert herself, and I'm all, yes! Don't let them get away with this! Stand up for your rights! But Lotty tells Rose to let it go.
"What is rather silly," said Mrs. Wilkins with much serenity, "is to mind. I can't see the least point in being in authority at the price of one's liberty."
Lotty was wiser than both of us. Let it be, and let love and beauty and acceptance work their changes in their own time.
Scrap looked up at the pine-tree motionless among stars. Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful. . .
She pulled her wrap closer round her with a gesture of defence, of keeping out and off. She didn't want to grow sentimental. Difficult not to, here; the marvelous night stole in through all one's chinks, and brought in with it, whether one wanted them or not, enormous feelings—feelings one couldn't manage, great things about death and time and waste; glorious and devastating things, magnificent and bleak, at once rapture and terror and immense, heart-cleaving longing. She felt small and dreadfully alone. She felt uncovered and defenceless. Instinctively she pulled her wrap closer. With this thing of chiffon she tried to protect herself from the eternities.
"I suppose," whispered Lotty, "Rose's husband seems to you just an ordinary, good-natured, middle-aged man."
Scrap brought her gaze down from the stars and looked at Lotty a moment while she focused her mind again.
"Just a rather red, rather round man," whispered Lotty.
Scrap bowed her head.
"He isn't," whispered Lotty. "Rose sees through all that. That's mere trimmings. She sees what we can't see, because she loves him."
Always love.
Though there’s a pervading theme of love, it shares time with that of acceptance and not being judgmental. There’s also a gentle irony in how many times people, even (perhaps especially) married couples, misunderstand each other, but in the magical setting of San Salvatore it somehow always works out for the best.
Buddy reads in April 2015 & April 2020 <— we loved the serendipity here.
*Some of the differences:(view spoiler)[Lady Caroline's personality, though world-weary in both the book and the film, seemed much more worldly and edgy in the movie. In the book there's no affair between Lady Caroline and another character's husband; there's the potential for one, but it gets nicely snuffed out before anything ever starts. Or maybe I just assumed there was an affair in the movie? (Dang, I need to go watch it again.) Also, Mr. Briggs' terrible nearsightedness is not in the book, but I thought it was a great addition in the movie. (hide spoiler)] I think Elizabeth von Arnim would have approved.
Free online at Gutenberg here, but be warned that there are several typos in this version....more
3.5 stars for this romantic suspense novel. Cadi (short for Caterina, her Italian grandmother's name) Tregaron is a fisherman's daughter, living in Co3.5 stars for this romantic suspense novel. Cadi (short for Caterina, her Italian grandmother's name) Tregaron is a fisherman's daughter, living in Cornwall in the early 1900's. When she's 17, she and her father help rescue a gentleman who's been caught in a small sailboat, in a treacherous undertow. Mr. Morton and his handsome nephew, Lucian Farrel, thank Cadi and her father and disappear from their lives for a couple of years. Cadi's got very mixed feelings about Lucian; he reminds her of a man in a mystical, recurring dream that she has of a starlit, palace-like house by the water, a man who sometimes brings her great joy in her dream, and other times terrifies her.
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When Cadi's father dies a couple of years later, leaving her alone in the world, Mr. Morton finds out about it and comes back to Cornwall, asking her to come live with his family. Cadi gradually adjusts to a very different, upper-crust sort of life with the Morton family, some of whom can be a little ... odd, but she does have a great relationship with Mr. Morton. She sees Lucian from time to time, and learns that he's in disgrace in society, accused of cowardice in the Boer Wars and cashiered from his regiment.
And then one day a minor accident happens. **slightly spoilerish info follows** (view spoiler)[It unexpectedly opens up the lost history of Cadi's Italian grandmother, who had been rescued from a drowning attempt by Cadi's sailor grandfather, and had never recovered her memories of her earlier life. The subsequent investigation leads Cadi to Venice and the palace she sees in her dreams, but also into danger, as there are threats to her life. And she's still not sure if Lucian is the evil person of her dreams or the man who will bring her joy. (hide spoiler)]
Tregaron's Daughter isn't as exotic as most of Madeleine Brent historical novels, with only a short part of the story taking place in Italy. The last quarter was exciting, but the story lags in the middle, and I'm always a little irritated with a mystery novel that has (view spoiler)[two villains working independently (hide spoiler)]; it seems rather unfair to readers trying to solve the mystery.
Overall Tregaron's Daughter struck me as a pretty standard historic gothic suspense read, but it does have its moments and some interesting characters. And portentous dreams. I'd only really recommend this one to those who love that genre. If you're considering a Madeleine Brent novel but haven't read any of hers yet, Golden Urchin is a better place to start....more
More like The Grey Beginning, Middle and Almost to the Finish Line.
Kathy Malone, a young widow, travels to her husband’s childhood home in Tuscany, IMore like The Grey Beginning, Middle and Almost to the Finish Line.
Kathy Malone, a young widow, travels to her husband’s childhood home in Tuscany, Italy to help her find peace. But inner peace isn’t in the cards for Kathy, at least not at the Villa Morandini. Between politely hostile relatives, a young boy in urgent need of a friend, and family secrets, Kathy is in more danger than she ever would have guessed.
This 1980’s era Gothic-style mystery/suspense novel lacks sufficient action. It's reasonably suspenseful and well written, but frustrating because of uneven pacing. Very little happens until more than three-fourths of the way through the book. I kept watching the percentage read creep up on my Kindle (a sure sign of boredom) and when ... stuff ... finally hit the fan at 78% I thought, "Finally! Some action!" So yeah, the last 22% was exciting and eventful, but it was too little, too late.
My search for a worthy successor to Mary Stewart continues....more
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