I enjoyed this novel, cleverly structured for maximum suspense. It's set in Florence, in the 1950's, and centers on a female detective (a novelty at the time) investigating a serial killer who seems to have a vendetta against a aristocratic family. She herself is a former partisan who lived and worked in the area. She was traumatized by the war and as she investigates the case she learns that the family who is the target of the vendetta also suffered greatly at that time and has a daughter close to her own age.
I love books set in Italy and that was why I guessed I'd enjoy this novel. Chris Bohjalian is a veteran writer and the author of other novels (his most recent being another suspense novel, The Guest Room). Bohjalian is not a suspense writer, per se; the last novel he wrote was Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, featuring a teenage protagonist trying to survive in Maine after a nuclear plant meltdown. He's also the author of The Sandcastle Girls, a historical novel about the Armenian genocide.
I enjoy reading author acknowledgements and in this case was delighted to learn that Bohjalian's portrait of the Tuscan family was based in part on writer Iris Origo's account of her own family's experiences trying to survive and protect their farm during the Second World War. I don't know much about Origo but I loved her book The Merchant of Prato and would strongly recommend it to anyone planning a visit to Avignon.
I love books set in Italy and that was why I guessed I'd enjoy this novel. Chris Bohjalian is a veteran writer and the author of other novels (his most recent being another suspense novel, The Guest Room). Bohjalian is not a suspense writer, per se; the last novel he wrote was Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, featuring a teenage protagonist trying to survive in Maine after a nuclear plant meltdown. He's also the author of The Sandcastle Girls, a historical novel about the Armenian genocide.
I enjoy reading author acknowledgements and in this case was delighted to learn that Bohjalian's portrait of the Tuscan family was based in part on writer Iris Origo's account of her own family's experiences trying to survive and protect their farm during the Second World War. I don't know much about Origo but I loved her book The Merchant of Prato and would strongly recommend it to anyone planning a visit to Avignon.
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