While much of the book takes place in England, Florence takes center stage and steals the show every time. Are Alice’s memories faulty, or is she the idée fixe of a disturbed young woman? It is a remarkable story of grace and forgiveness, of a woman struggling with her power and with her faults, of loneliness and honor, while also making an underdeveloped mythological creature a true hero.ġ950s Tangiers comes alive in this glorious novel of obsession that begs the question: How well do you really know the people in your life? Lucy and Alice are college chums who find themselves together again when Lucy comes to Tangiers to stay with Alice and her new husband, John. Speaking of Scylla… Circe is one of the most perfect examples of obsession gone awry in the modern canon. Beautiful or twisted, elegant or terrifying, these are some of my favorite stories of obsession set against the Mediterranean backdrop.

And what is falling in love but obsession personified? No, deified? To do so against the backdrop of the Mediterranean can either go well… or terribly wrong. You can’t have a gothic story without an obsession. Legend has it it’s the island Scylla was banished to, and there is a cult of Venus adorers who made their historical home there, too. Once the home to ancient witches and power-mad generals, it is now in the possession of the fabulously wealthy Compton family. It’s the story of a destination wedding gone badly awry, a tale of murder, and obsession, and twisted love, set on a fictional island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Isola.

So it’s not a surprise that my latest novel is set off the coast of Italy.

Her dark lies book