Illusion

by Rachel Billington

Becka and Marcello open the doors of their beautiful Italian home every year, welcoming an unpredictable cast of characters at a painting course. Old friends join new, including a prisoner on parole, a svelte Texan divorcee, a failed novelist, an undercover policeman and a mystically-inclined Japanese professor. Drama can always be counted on at Casa Cinghiale.

Then, the young cook goes missing. A body is found and suddenly everybody is under suspicion as age-old truths and lies bubble dangerously to the surface…

Staged against the breath-taking back-drop of the Tuscan hills, Illusion is a thrilling black comedy where nothing and nobody are quite what they seem.

In this vivid novella, Rachel Billington sets aside the historical perspective of her recent novels and revisits the spirit of her early shorter works such as The Big Dipper and Beautiful.

188 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2017

About the author

Rachel Billington has written twenty one novels and eleven books for children. She is also a journalist, feature writer and reviewer. She is a regular contributor and Associate Editor of Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners and a Vice-President of English PEN. In 2012 she was awarded an OBE for Services to Literature.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one advertises itself as British darkly humored mystery and disappoints on every account, except for being British. Stylized as a play, it starts off with personae dramatis and proceeds to some personal dramas of a small group of individuals gathered together at a gorgeous Italian villa for an art course. And then the cook disappears. And all these various personalities begins to variedly unravel in their own ways. None are especially likeable, which is ok, but also none are especially compelling, which isn’t. Maybe Marcello’s story is interesting, but certainly not enough to hang an entire book on. There’s some decent writing, think some sort of British highbrow play attempting at cleverness, but the overall effect is overwhelmingly underwhelming. Agatha Christie it isn’t. Not sure what it is, outside of being a very quick and barely entertaining and not at all compelling read. The author is supposed to be well known and even of some renown, OBE for services in literature no less, so maybe this was a one off for her. Not sure. Not sure why an author of some renown would publish with Endeavor either, they can’t seem to manage to provide a typo free properly edited version, this one no exception. In fact the funniest thing about this supposed comedy was the fact that in the author’s bio they misspelled Associate Editor. Sure, this was free and read quickly, but not really worth the time.

[AngelaC · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, Rachel Billington is one of those authors that makes me want to curl up in a favourite armchair beside a roaring fire, curtains drawn across the windows to shut out the evening storm outside. Given that I live in South Australia, that picture is an illusion.
And so to the book of the same name. As usual the writing is good and the descriptions enough to transport the reader into a sun-drenched Tuscany filled with the scent of wild herbs and flowers and the buzz of insects.
As I met the cast of characters, I was reminded of one of those brilliantly subtle English comedy films, full of eccentrics, each with his or her own agenda.
Why, then, did I only give the book two stars? Because so much of it didn't make sense. Too many loose ends were never tied off.

SPOILER ALERT:
1. Why did the cook go and hide in the cottage in the woods?
2. Who was the black woman?
3. Why is Marcello described as a saint for helping people? How does he help them?
4. What or who is Brian spying on?
5. Why was Marcello killed and who did it?

Well written but a very deficient storyline.

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is fine. The editing needs work. Spelling the characters names consistently would be a good start. The story; very unsatisfactory.