"Atmospheric gothic style novel that's oh so good"
In 1921 Italy, playwright Galeazzo D'Ascanio writes
what turns out to be his last play. Since his beloved
mistress Celia Sands provides him with the needed
inspiration, he bestows on her the honor of starring on
opening night in the theater on his estate Il Piacere.
However, Celia vanishes on the eve of her opportunity to
attain stardom. The show never went on and whether he lost
his inspiration or his soul that night, Galeazzo never
wrote another play Galeazzo's grandson decides to direct that play at the
same theater that it was to first debut. He selects
English actress Celia Sands, no relationship, because of
her name. When she arrives at Il Piacere the modern day
Celia feels an immediate affinity to her namesake
especially at night. Unable to let the past stay buried,
she obsessively begins to investigate what happened on that
fatal night one day before this play was to first be
performed. Known for her background descriptions that feel like
panoramic murals that enhance her starring charcaters,
Susanna Kearsley paints a multi-layered vista. The Poe-
like past counterbalances with the vivid energy of the
present so that the reader is hooked in such a way that
they feel they are on the grounds of the Italian estate in
the now and in 1921. The modern day Celia is quite a card,
as she knows that it is better to leave the past alone but
cannot do it. Her compulsion turns SEASON OF STORMS into a
somber Gothic like novel that verifies why Susanna Kearsley
is an award-winning author. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted August 3, 2001
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