Season of Storms

I've read several of Kearsley's books and this one is now my favorite, even though I love the other ones too. Kearsley did an excellent job of weaving past and present(both were very closely paralleled). The setting and descriptions made me wish that I could go to Italy. In addition, all of the main characters and their relationships with each another were well developed, so much that I felt like I knew them personally. This book was suspenseful and kept me turning the pages. I spent all of my spare time reading this book until I was finished with it. Kearsley also added some supernatural elements to this novel, which were a nice touch. The only drawback was that the ending was somewhat predictable; however, this was minor compared to all of the good points of this book. Overall, it was very well written. Susanna Kearsley is one of the best authors of the romantic suspense genre!

Susanna Kearsley writes much like Barbara Michaels- her novels feature highly developed characters, a beautiful sense of atmosphere and an air of ghostly mystery that draw the reader in. If you enjoy the work of Barbara Michael's, Susanna Kearsley will not be a disappointment!

In 1920's Italy, Galeazzo D'Ascanio was unable to see the performance of his wonderful play, Il Prezzo. Celia Sands, his beautiful English mistress and star of the play, vanished without a trace the night before the opening performance. Now, some eighty years later, Alessandro 'Alex' D'Ascanio, grandson of Galeazzo, has contacted Celia Sands, a struggling young English actress, asking that she perform the lead in Il Prezzo, a never performed play. The Forlani Trust is restoring Il Piacere, Galeazzo's magnificent villa on Lake Garda, and the play will be performed at an outdoor theater there. Celia isn't certain that she should take this role, since it appears that she is desired merely because she possesses the same name as the original Celia. But her mentor, pseudo-guardian and director Rupert does his best to quietly persuade Celia to take this part. And Celia ventures off to Italy and the disquiet of Il Piacere. The maid thinks that Celia's room has ghosts of its own even as Celia seems drawn to Alex whose comings and goings lend an air of mystery to the place. Add to the mix Daniela Forlani, whose possessiveness of Alex alludes to Francesca, Galeazzo's wife, who was jealous of his relationship with Celia. Written in the first person, SEASON OF STORMS is a top-notch suspenseful novel that evolves into a truly riveting read. The mystery is not in the form of cliffhangers but a more slow-paced discovery of clues that will fall into place like the pieces of a puzzle. Rich with evocatively descriptive language, SEASON OF STORMS will transport you to another place, where murder and ghosts are a distinct probability.

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 Sara 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