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LIGHT IN THE RUINS: A NOVEL
Author:
Bohjalian, Chris
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Class:
Fiction
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: PS3552
Print Run: 125000
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ISBN-13: 9780385534819
LCCN: 2012046269
Imprint: Doubleday
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Pub Date: 07/09/2013
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $25.95
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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309 pages ; 25 cm
H 9.5",
W 6.5",
D 1.27",
1.4225 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Blockbuster List
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Booklist's Mystery Showcase
New York Times Bestsellers List
New York Times Bestsellers: Adult Fiction
Publishers Weekly Bestsellers
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Awards:
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Booklist Starred Reviews
Library Journal Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Booklist
Library Journal
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TIPS Subjects:
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Mystery/Detective Fiction
Historical Fiction
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BISAC Subjects: |
FICTION / Literary
FICTION / Historical / General
FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Historical
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LC Subjects:
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Florence (Italy), History, Fiction
Historical fiction
Murderers, Fiction
Mystery fiction
Nobility, Italy, Fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Florence (Italy), History, Fiction
Historical fiction
Mystery fiction
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 04/01/2013 |
| Blind eyes are turned to the sun when 18-year-old Cristina's Italian family crosses paths with a German and Italian soldier seeking a burial place in 1943's war-torn Tuscany. Cristina's simple life just got a lot more complicated. 320pp., 125K, Auth res: VT |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Booklist | 05/01/2013 |
| Best-selling and versatile novelist Bohjalian (The Sandcastle Girls, 2012) returns to crime fiction in his fifteenth novel. In Florence in 1955, Francesca Rosati--still beautiful and aloof, though grieving for her husband and children--is murdered, her heart wrenched from her body. A serial killer is at work, preying on the Rosati family. Serafina Bettini, Florence's only woman detective, wonders if the war has something to do with this gruesome vendetta. In extended flashbacks, we see Francesca and her children living with her dignified and generous in-laws at the Villa Chimera. This lush Tuscany estate becomes a magnet for Nazis, allies turned occupiers, who are fascinated by a newly discovered Etruscan tomb. Francesca's young, lovely sister-in-law stokes an already combustible situation by falling in love with a Nazi lieutenant, and soon the gentle Rosatis find themselves trapped, forced to host Nazi officers while a determined band of partisans takes shelter in the Etruscan ruins. Serafina, severely scarred by burns suffered during the war, hunts not only for the serial killer but also for answers to the mystery of her own survival. Mastering matters subtle and grotesque, Bohjalian combines intricate plotting and bewitching sensuality with historical insight and a profound sense of place to create an exceptional work of suspense rooted in the tragic aberrations of war. Seaman, Donna. 320p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013. |
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| Library Journal | 05/15/2013 |
| In 1955 Florence, Italy, a serial killer is carefully, gruesomely killing off members of the Rosati family. Tearing out each victim's heart and leaving it on display, the murderer has something important to say about this family of noble blood, and Det. Serafina Bettini suspects it may have something to do with their activities during World War II. Serafina, massively scarred from the war, can't remember all that happened one disastrous night, and she keeps her partisan background secret. Back in 1943 in the Rosati family villa, German soldiers make themselves at home while investigating an Etruscan burial site, and the youngest Rosati daughter finds herself falling in love with a young German soldier. Weaving pieces back and forth through the two time periods, best-selling author Bohjalian (The Sandcastle Girls) illuminates the ruination of family, trust, and community in crisis in time of war. VERDICT Thoroughly gripping, beautiful, and astonishingly vengeful, this novel is a heartbreaker. Bohjalian's latest turn to historical fiction is immensely rewarding. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/13.]. Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA. 320p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 07/01/2013 |
| In his 15 previous novels, Chris Bohjalian has delved into a potpourri of weighty topics, including environmental activism, medical malpractice suits and interracial adoption. Some of his more recent novels are injected with an element of mystery, and he continues on that track with his latest--a brilliant blend of historical fiction and a chilling serial killer story. This gripping novel opens in Florence in 1955 with the brutal murder of Francesca Rosati, daughter-in-law of Antonio and Beatrice Rosati. Serafina Bettini is part of the homicide unit investigating Francesca's murder, and she first interviews Cristina, the Rosatis' only daughter, who discovered the body. In only a few days her mother, Beatrice, is murdered in the same manner, and it becomes clear that a serial killer is methodically eliminating the Rosati family one at a time. Wondering if the motive may trace back to the war years when the villa was occupied for a time by supporters of Mussolini, Serafina questions Cristina about her family's involvement with either the Nazis or the local partisans trying to sabotage the Nazi efforts, bringing up painful memories. Bohjalian deftly ties together the stories of these two young women as the killer is identified and the long-harbored revenge is revealed. He succeeds in turning a historical novel into a page-turner that the reader will not soon forget. Deborah Donovan. 320pg. BOOKPAGE, c2013. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 06/15/2013 |
| In post-World War II Tuscany, a serial killer targets the remnants of a noble family. In Bohjalian's literary thriller, the ruin of the aristocratic Rosati family is triggered by Nazi interest in an Etruscan tomb on their estate, Villa Chimera. The action ricochets between the war years, when the Rosatis--Marchese Antonio, Marchesa Beatrice and their children, Marco, Vittore and Cristina--were unwilling hosts to Nazis and Fascists, and 1955, when Francesca, widow of Marco (her children also perished during the war) is found brutally murdered in a seedy pensione. The murderer's grisly MO entails extracting the heart of his victim, presumably with a surgical saw. Called in to investigate, Florentine detective Serafina Bettini, scarred by burns sustained while fighting as a partisan against the Germans, is baffled. (Occasional italicized asides in the killer's first-person voice reveal only that he--or she--has an unspecified grudge against the Rosatis and intends to pick them off one by one.) When Beatrice is murdered in the same manner in a much safer Florence hotel, Serafina divines that the Rosatis are the killer's targets, but why? Because they allowed Germans to extract artifacts from the tomb and artwork from their mansion during the war, and because Cristina was in love with a German lieutenant, the clan were seen as collaborators by some, but Serafina's patchy memory eventually discloses that the Rosatis sheltered her and fellow partisans on the estate. Nor did the Rosatis escape wartime suffering: They lost Marco and their grandchildren; and Antonio died a broken man. In 1955, Villa Chimera is still a pile of rubble the family cannot afford to repair, much less inhabit. As Serafina struggles with her own postwar nightmares, she must learn why the killer hates the Rosatis--only then can she identify him before the next Rosati dies. A soulful why-done-it. 320pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 01/28/2013 |
| Cocooned within their ancient Tuscan villa, the noble Rosatis try to deny that World War II is raging in the world beyond. Then two soldiers arrive, interested in the family graveyard, even as 18-year-old Cristina Rosati finds herself involved with a German. A decade later, police investigator Serafina Bettini tracks a vicious killer who's after the Rosatis-for reasons that seem evident, but let's find out. Trust New York Times best-selling author Bohjalian, who's adept at both intimate portrait and broad canvas, to make something gorgeous of love and war and revenge. 320p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 05/27/2013 |
| An exploration of post-WWII Italy doubles as a murder mystery in this well-crafted novel from Bohjalian (The Sandcastle Girls). In 1952 Florence, Francesca Rosati, a dress-shop worker, is brutally murdered by a killer who carves out her heart, and Detective Serafina Bettini is assigned to solve the homicide. She discovers Francesca had married into the once wealthy and powerful Rosati family, who owned a large estate in the same hills near Florence where Serafina fought as a partisan. The Rosatis, headed by matriarch Beatrice, hosted Nazi officers on their property during the war, breeding deep animosity among the local populace. Serafina's belief that Francesca's murder is linked to this lingering resentment of the family is strengthened after another Rosati is found dead. The investigation leads Serafina back to the former Rosati estate, and she learns that the family's wartime record was more complicated than it appears. Meanwhile, in a series of short chapters, the vengeful serial killer vows to destroy the surviving Rosatis. Bohjalian tips his hand too early as to the killer's identity, but otherwise delivers an entertaining historical whodunit. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider. (July). 320p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013. |
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