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The Bequest

a twisty dark academia mystery perfect for long autumn nights

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
A PhD student uncovers dark secrets in this 'richly atmospheric and irresistibly readable' (Joyce Carol Oates) mystery set in Scotland, Italy, and France. For fans of Donna Tartt and Elizabeth Kostova.
Fleeing a disastrous love affair, Isabel Henley leaves the US to begin a PhD in Scotland. There she reconnects with the charismatic Rose Brewster, a former classmate, who becomes a much-needed friend. When Rose reveals she's in trouble, Isabel decides to help her.

Then Rose vanishes.

No clues can be found until Isabel receives a coded message: Rose is alive, but held captive by people who don't want her to complete her historical research. Isabel realises she must finish Rose's work if she wants to save her life.

The trail leads Isabel to the great cities of Italy and France. She must decipher a chain of betrayal and treason lasting centuries, and solve a 400-year-old mystery... or risk being claimed by it too.
For fans of The Cloisters, The Secret History and The Maidens, this is a gripping literary thriller set in the world of dark academia.

Reviews for The Bequest

'A brilliant debut, as smart as it is compelling' Tasha Alexander
'A first rate mystery by a first time author. Intriguing plot and well drawn characters' Martin Cruz Smith
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 29, 2022
      PhD candidate Isabel Henley, the narrator of Margaret’s impressive if flawed debut, follows her older college chum, Rose Brewster, to Scotland’s St. Stephens University, where she learns that the rock-star feminist scholar who was to be her thesis adviser has just died in a hiking accident. Flash forward a few months. Only the occasional outing with Rose or fantasizing about a broodingly handsome young lecturer relieves the lonely Isabel’s immersion in the lives of 16th-century monarch Catherine de’ Medici and her female court. Rose’s subsequent disappearance puts Isabel on the trail of a priceless emerald legend claims was brought from Brazil to Italy by the subject of Rose’s dissertation, Catherine’s courtier Federico Falcone. As Isabel embarks on a high-stakes intellectual treasure hunt that will take her from the Falcone family’s Genoese palazzo to archives in Florence and Paris, the author not only maintains suspense but makes the historical figures come vibrantly alive through their correspondence. Indeed, the contemporary characters pale by comparison, and a couple of key figures swing wildly between winningly seductive and sociopathic, particularly as dictated by the hairpin turns of the far-fetched denouement. Despite such speed bumps, however, readers will eagerly await Margaret’s next. Agent: Jody Kahn, Brandt & Hochman.

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  • OverDrive Read
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  • English

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