Wednesday, September 18, 2013

An unwelcome visitor at the Villa Morandini

The Grey Beginning, Barbara Michaels

Oh, the irony.  After Wildfire at Midnight I wasn't quite ready for more Mary Stewart, so I thought I'd try a draw from the book box.  But I ended up with a book that is first cousin to a Stewart story, one with echoes of Nine Coaches Waiting.  Instead of a French château, there is an ancient Tuscan villa, where a young American woman meets a child count, recently orphaned and very lonely, with a cold and unloving guardian.

The young woman, who narrates the story, is Kathleen Malone Morandini.  Recently widowed when her husband Bart died in a car crash, she has come from her home in Massachusetts to Tuscany.  Against the advice of family and doctors, she feels that she must meet his grandmother, the Contessa Morandini, though the letters she has been sending for months have been ignored.  Kathy arrives at the villa, in the countryside outside Florence, to find the gates firmly shut against her, and she has to force her way into the grounds.  Along the way she meets the ten-year Pietro, playing by himself in the neglected gardens.  When she finally makes her way into the house, she is stunned to learn from the Contessa that Pietro is her only grandson; Bart was her nephew and did not even carry the Morandini name.

This news overwhelms Kathy, who is already feeling ill.  The Contessa leaps to the conclusion that she is suffering from morning sickness, which Kathy is in no state to discuss.  Suddenly she finds herself transformed into a welcome guest, coddled with every luxury.  At first she lacks the resolution to explain the mistake.  Each day she spends at the villa makes that explanation more difficult, and increases the risk that she will be exposed as an impostor.  But meanwhile she is getting to know Pietro, and to feel increasing concern over his isolated, lonely life in a crumbling villa.  She begins to wonder why he is locked in his room every night, and why the Contessa's maid is carrying trays into a wing that is supposedly deserted.  She also wonders about a young American, David Brown, whom the Contessa has hired to search the villa's extensive and overstuffed attics for antiques that she can discretely sell.  He admits that is a bit of a smokescreen; he is really hunting for family papers that he can use for his doctoral dissertation on 19th-century tourism in Italy.  But is that admission just a double-bluff?

I really enjoyed this book, with its modern take on the Gothic novel. It is vintage Barbara Michaels.  The story kept me guessing, surprising me with at least three major plot twists that I never saw coming.  The settings are vividly evoked, particularly the decaying villa set amidst its neglected gardens, but also Florence itself, where Kathy escapes to play tourist.  On one of her trips, she picks up a second-hand copy of The Innocents Abroad, which proves a welcome distraction from the strains of life at the villa. She also buys one called Bride of the Madman, which gives Barbara Michaels a chance to play with some of the conventions of the Gothic novel - even as her character reading the book is herself caught up in a Gothic story.  Does that count as meta-fiction?

This book is the second I've read for the Peril the First, with the R.I.P. VIII challenge.

10 comments:

  1. I like the sound of this. The idea of the maid carrying trays into a deserted wing of the the house sounds a bit Jane Eyre. I'll make a note of it for next years RIP.

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  2. This sounds wonderful -- Gothic fiction with meta-literary touches is exactly what I want to be reading right now.

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  3. This does sound very similar to Stewart! The more I hear about Barbara Michaels, the more I am convinced I would like her. My library only has two of her titles, but I think I will try one and see if I'm right. We don't have this one, sadly. I think it sounds perfectly wonderful and gothic!

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  4. Joanne, supposedly deserted wings are a perfect Gothic touch, aren't they? I need to add Jane Eyre to my re-reading list.

    elizabeth, it really was a great read. I hope you can find a copy!

    Anbolyn, as long as you don't start with The Dancing Floor! it was her last (writing as Michaels), and I think it might put you right off her books.

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  5. I do like the idea of a book box/jar/etc. but know I would only be terribly morally week and only put in books I really wanted to read. That said, I want to read this one now. The idea of Italy really appeals at the moment and it sounds like a good Mary Stewart segue.

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  6. vicki, there's a rescued stray kitten named Joe, if you need any extra incentive :) I cheated for the first time on the book box with this one - I initially drew a book on the Treaty of Versailles, and I knew there was just No Way.

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  7. I love love love it when Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters gets a chance to play around with other genres. Her spoofy bits about Gothic novels are always so great because you can tell she adores the genre and also recognizes the ways it's silly.

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  8. Jenny, absolutely! That's one of the things I particularly love about the Jacqueline Kirby books, but it's there I think in all of them - but not always to the same degree either.

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  9. I love, love, love Barbara Michaels! I just finished Vanish With the Rose by her not too long ago (although it wasn't my favorite by her it was still enjoyable). I will definitely be reading this one at some point. Great review!

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  10. Samantha, thanks for stopping by! This was one of the best Michaels books I've read in a while. I've been meaning to re-read Vanish with the Rose - I've forgotten most of the plot.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!