The Villa: A Novel

Ein schöner Suspense Roman für zwischendurch Eine interessante Story, erzählt in verschiedenen Zeitsprüngen im Wechsel. Logisch ist vielleicht anders und die Protagonistin sollte sich vielleicht überlegen, ob sie sich neue Freunde zulegen sollte. Die Auflösung, was früher in der Villa geschehen ist, hat mir aber dann doch wieder recht gut gefallen.

What a fantastic gothic-suspense novel! I absolutely love reading books about books and writers. In this novel, it is fascinating to move between two time slots with strong female characters who reclaim the narratives for themselves in a way that makes sense to them. Even, if it means to walk over dead bodies!!! 1974: A rock star, a writer and a murdered musician are entangled in the mysterious saga of Villa Rosato nestled in the hills around Orvieto in Umbria. It is that summer that defines the fates of Mari Godwick and Lara Larchmont who are stepsisters and muses of the musicians in their teenage years. After that summer, Mari becomes the famous feminist author of "Lilith Rising", a horror novel, and Lara becomes a musician and composer of the album "Aestas". Aestas means summer in Latin. Both refer to the murder in the villa in their work. However, everyone involved in that Italian summer is now dead. Present time: Em and Chess are inseparable friends who spend their summer in Villa Aestas, nowadays an alleged oasis of calm and serenity. Chess writes self-help books and has become an internet sensation firing on all cylinders. She is single and happily rich. Em writes cozy mysteries, while her career is stalling out, her health is terrible, and is in the midst of a divorce after seven years of marriage. She thinks situating herself in a brand-new space may ignite her inspiration for her new book. Instead, Em becomes obsessed with Mari’s book and the murder in the villa. When Chess suggests to co-write a book with Em, chaos will unleash that ends up in even more secrets and wicked partnerships at the villa. „Stories change depending on who´s telling them"! Unputdownable. Clean and fluent writing style. Highly recommended. Happy reading!