The Villa: A Novel
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Description
"Hawkins weaves an engrossing tale about betrayal, sisterhood, and the power of telling your own story. Captivating!" ––People
"Hawkins is the reigning queen of suspense." ––Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author
The bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs returns with a brilliant new gothic suspense set at an Italian villa with a dark history.
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
Book Information
Posts
"Houses remember..." "Beautiful things can contain their own darkness."
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!
Description
"Hawkins weaves an engrossing tale about betrayal, sisterhood, and the power of telling your own story. Captivating!" ––People
"Hawkins is the reigning queen of suspense." ––Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author
The bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs returns with a brilliant new gothic suspense set at an Italian villa with a dark history.
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
Book Information
Posts
"Houses remember..." "Beautiful things can contain their own darkness."
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!