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The Etruscan
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In Lappin’s prize-winning, literary gothic tale, the tantalizing love story between American heroine Harriet Sackett and the enigmatic Count Federigo, self-proclaimed Etruscan spirit, is played out in 1922 against the backdrop of eerie Etruscan tombs, boar-infested woods, and elegant Tuscan villas. The mystery at the heart of Harriet’s experience draws the reader on: who is Federigo del Re? Noble lover, unscrupulous conman, Etruscan ghost, village shaman, or simply the product of Harriet’s delusion? Lappin keeps the suspense pulled taut till the very last page.
“…A compelling plot,…intriguing characters, a vivid sense of place, and strong descriptive writing.” -Walter Cummins, The Literary Review
“Haunting…vivid…entrancing!” –Kirkus
“Gorgeously detailed, wickedly fun.” –Prairie Schooner
“… Gothic in the grand style—darkly mysterious, psychologically acute, emotionally subtle.” -Tom Wilhelmus, longtime fiction critic for the Hudson Review
Description
In Lappin’s prize-winning, literary gothic tale, the tantalizing love story between American heroine Harriet Sacket and the enigmatic Count Federigo, self-proclaimed Etruscan spirit, is played out in 1922 against the backdrop of eerie Etruscan tombs, boar-infested woods, and elegant Tuscan villas. The Etruscan recounts the adventures of Harriet Sackett, trouser-wearing American photographer who travels to Italy to photograph Etruscan tombs for the Theosophical Society. Here she falls in love with the charismatic Federigo del Re, occultist , amateur archaeologist, and shape-shifter, but her increasing fascination with the man will leave her on the brink of collapse. The story is told from the viewpoint of Harriet’s English cousins, Stephen and Sarah, whose own dark secrets are revealed as they read the diary Harriet has kept of her obsession, trying to understand what has transpired. As the unraveling of Harriet’s mind is revealed, so too are the secrets of Harriet’s family- secrets which are no less disturbing than those revealed in her diary. The mystery at the heart of Harriet’s experience draws the reader on: who is Federigo del Re, the man she calls “her secret sun”? Noble lover, unscrupulous conman, Etruscan ghost, village shaman, or simply the product of Harriet’s delusion? Lappin keeps the suspense pulled taut till the very last page. Readers traveling to Italy this summer or just lounging at home dreaming of Tuscany can lose themselves in the Etruscan woods of Lappin’s lush landscapes.
LINDA LAPPIN is the prize-winning author of four novels: The Etruscan (Wynkin deWorde, Ireland, 2004 & Pleasure Boat Studio, 2024), Katherine’s Wish (Wordcraft, 2008), Signatures in Stone: A Bomarzo Mystery (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2013 & 2023), and Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne (Serving House Books, 2020). Signatures in Stone was the overall winner of the Daphne DuMaurier prize for best mystery novel of 2013. She is also the author of The Soul of Place: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci, (Travelers Tales, 2015), which won a Nautilus Award in the category of creativity in 2015. A former Fulbright scholar to Italy, she has lived mainly in Rome and Tuscia for over thirty years. In 2023, Pleasure Boat Studio published a deluxe, illustrated, paperback edition of Signatures in Stone to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Bomarzo Park of Monsters. The 2024 publication of The Etruscan by Pleasure Boat Studio is the first U.S. print edition of this book and the first paperback edition in any country. The author is at work on volume 3 of her Tuscia trilogy—Melusine—set in the area of Lake Bolsena, and featuring Daphne DuBlanc, heroine of Signatures in Stone.
Other books by Linda Lappin: The Soul of Place: A Creative Writing Workbook, Public Lettering: Script, Power, and Culture, Katherine’s Wish, Signatures in Stone, Loving Modigliani
First Edition Accolades, 2004:
Book of the Week –The Irish Emigrant, July 4 2004
“Think Fifty Shades of… but fifty times better written.” –Margaret Bramley, Bookcrossing.com
“Pan dances more deeply in The Etruscan than he does in Lawrence’s Etruscan Places.” –Mel Ulm, The Reading Life
“I was enthralled by Lappin’s Italy… and by that god/demon/boar that flits through its landscape.” –Nina Auerbach, critic, author of Our Vampires, Ourselves
“A tale like a labyrinth” –Andrew Frisardi
“I really couldn’t put it down” –Charles Wright
“A wonderful and captivating read” –The Megalithic Portal
“An intelligent, atmospheric novel with finely drawn characters and beautiful language and style. It is not easy to put down…this artfully-written novel inhabits a supernatural landscape… Lappin’s gift for atmosphere places her among the finest writers of gothic art.” –Southern Indiana Review
“An extraordinary feat” –Susan Tiberghien, Jungian lecturer, author of Looking for Gold: a Year in Jungian Analysis
“A real page-turner” –Kathryn Lang, senior editor Southern Methodist University Press
“A writer to watch” -David Applefield, editor of Frank
“A powerful first novel” –Thomas E. Kennedy author of The Copenhagen Quartet
Jeff Welker –
This book is fantastic, easily the best novel I have read this year. Ms. Lappin’s writing is some of the best I have come across in years. She creates an atmosphere of Gothic and hallucinatory suspense, a vivid sense of place and time, and a fascinating study in the concept of the woman-as-property, a psychological drama just as interesting as the one that plays out b/w the main character and her mysterious Count. Highly recommended!