When Edie's mother-in-law, Anna DeLuca, dies, she is relieved. Edie blames Anna for the accident that destroyed her family. So, when her will lures Edie to Sicily and the long-abandoned Villa della Madonna del Mare, she sees through Anna's games.
Suspecting Anna is meddling from beyond the grave to try to reunite her and her ex-husband Joe, Edie is determined to leave Italy as soon as possible. But before she can, the villa starts to shed its mysterious secrets.
Who are the girls beside Anna in her childhood photos, and why has one of them been scratched out? Why does someone, or something, want them to leave the past untouched? The villa is a place where old ghosts feel at home, but does their legacy need to be laid to rest before Edie and Joe can move on...
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I was walking the dogs along the footpath beside the River Avon when my sister, Martha, called to tell me that Anna DeLuca had died. 1
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(@BoldwoodBooks, 13 February 2020, 340 pages, ebook, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #PrimeReading)
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This is my first time reading the author. I really enjoyed The House by the Sea so will check out more of her work. I loved the setting. Italy is a place I've never been but I'd love to visit it and have read a lot of fiction set there. The author does a brilliant job of bringing such a beautiful landscape and the culture and people to life. Every line transported me to Sicily. Some of the themes in the book, themes I return to again and again include grief, loss and family secrets. The book has some darker moments as Edie and Joe start to believe someone wants them out of the villa when they're plagued by strange events and freak accidents but nothing prepares them for what they find when they dismantle the old swimming pool and discover why a neighbour, insisting she was Anna's best friend is obsessed with buying the villa.