Capri File

by Amanda Prantera

Lola Salvia d'Acquaviva's marriage is in tatters and she has come to Capri to recoup. She thinks her rather creepy end of the island would make a suitably sombre backdrop for a novel - particularly the nearby Villa Fersen, where a rich, aristocratic paedophile caused a scandal several decades ago. Lola herself is an Italian duchessa by marriage, but English by birth, and she is in e-mail correspondence with one Simon Parks of Ladbroke Grove, who is looking out second-hand books for her on the villainous Comte Fersen, and on Capri.
Gradually, Lola reveals the details of her rickety marriage and her Fersen investigations as well as the recent unexplained death of a local boy whose photograph she has seen in the nearby cemetery. Her enquiries have raised strange reactions among the locals and unaccountable fury in her husband. As Lola uses Simon as a sounding board for her increasing unease, the narrative grows more double-edged and sinister by the page.

207 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Mikee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a real fan of Amanda Prantera. Her book are ... unusual, sometimes eerie, and always well-written. Here's one written totally in the form of emails. One-way emails. And yet it doesn't seem gimmicky at all. The tale has its moments but ends rather flat. Definitely a worthwhile read.