1968, Sicily. Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba del Ciliegio, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene.
No body, no sign of a struggle, nothing.
Present Day. TV showman and true crime aficionado Milo Conti is Italy’s darling, uncovering and solving historic crimes for his legion of fans. When he turns his attention to the story of the missing Irene Borgata, accusing her husband of her murder, Enzo’s daughter Maddi asks her childhood friend, retired detective Jane Cobain, for help to prove her father’s innocence. But the tale Jane discovers is murky: mafia meetings, infidelity, mistaken identity, grief and unshakable love. As the world slowly closes in on the claustrophobic Villa Alba del Ciliegio, and the house begins to reveal its secrets, will the Borgata family wish they’d never asked Jane to investigate? And what did happen to Enzo’s missing wife Irene?
Bestselling author Louise Douglas returns with an irresistibly compelling, intriguing and captivating tale of betrayal, love, jealousy and the secrets buried in every family history..
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Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.
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My thoughts: families always seem to have terrible secrets but the ones here only do damage to the other members. Enzo’s wife disappeared, despite needing a wheelchair, which was left behind. Did he kill her or did something else happen to her? He won’t talk about that day, and no one else, except the missing Irene, knows what happened. They all have theories, and secrets of their own.
Jane is mourning her husband and hopes that helping her old friend look into her family mystery will help her recover from her loss. But digging into the complicated family dynamics at the Villa Alba threatens to bring a lot more to light than what happened to Irene.
With the family keeping things from her, and each other, Jane is struggling to get answers before the deadline of the TV show, but with a little help from her friend back home and the charming local police detective, she just might solve it.
A moving and evocative story of love and loss set in the beautiful Sicilian countryside, complete with mafioso and delicious food.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 