Amazing book. I wish I'd known more about Dante and The Divine Comedies, though this book is so well written and all necessary background information is so cleverly provided to the reader, it isn't required.
Brilliant premise, wonderfully quirky and off the wall, yet grounded with relatable characters and strong, realistic dialogue. It got in my head and stayed there as I tried to figure out what it all meant, how it all worked. Totally captivating.
A dark romance from debut author Victoria Arrow that explores the push and pull of forbidden romance between the overlooked, loyal daughter of the mafia don and the woman supposed to marry her brother.
Giovanna lives for her family and the mafia. She is tough, gruff, and more capable than her playboy brother. She has accepted her place in the background, but when her brother’s beautiful fiancee, Francesca, makes it clear she would rather marry Giovanna things get complicated.
Will Giovanna put herself first for once and take what she wants? That is if she can protect Francesca from those…
This was a beautifully compelling mystery all wrapped up in letters from another age, which bled through to an increasingly disturbing present, a gently blossoming sapphic love story, and an absolutely primal danger. Terrifying and wonderful, I couldn't put it down.
Sixteen years ago, something terrible kept Polly from meeting her girlfriend at a train station in Berlin. Dreams were shattered. Hearts were broken. Two women continued through life alone.
Now, Ksenia Tokarycz is obliged to come back to Australia. Sure, she does it in triumph and she does it in style, but a tardy delivery sends her in search of her piano – back to her childhood home, back to the place where Polly Paterson is still just next door.
High on the escarpment where the summer storms beat their way up the coast and hurl their fury against the sandstone cliffs, a love that never truly died forces two women to come to terms with their scars.
But there is a curious sound on the breeze. There is music on the breath of the wind. And when Toks sees what has happened to her piano, she fears there is a very strong chance her darling Pearl might be utterly mad.
The Piano in the Tree is a contemporary, second chance sapphic romance set between Australia and Europe.
