LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 8th August 2007.
A brilliant mysterious story, written with a very literary tone, set in late 1950’s Tuscany. A young man is given a summer project to write about a beautiful garden in the Tuscan hills and soon finds himself drawn in to an intriguing story of two possible murders committed 400 years apart. Beautiful settings and beautiful writing combine to make a fascinating read.
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Savage Garden Synopsis
Behind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions seem to have a secret life of their own – and a secret message, too, for those with eyes to read it.
Young scholar Adam Strickland is just such a person. Arriving in 1958, he finds the Docci family, their house and the unique garden as seductive as each other. But post-War Italy is still a strange, even dangerous place, and the Doccis have some dark skeletons hidden away which Adam finds himself compelled to investigate.
Before this mysterious and beautiful summer ends, Adam will uncover two stories of love, revenge and murder, separated by 400 years… but is another tragedy about to be added to the villa's cursed past?
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Press Reviews
Mark Mills Press Reviews
Acclaim for The Savage Garden :
‘An intriguing puzzle, elegantly written… a pleasure to read… the atmosphere of an Italian summer and of the mysterious garden are beautifully captured’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Mills writes beautifully; leading us gently and atmospherically through the Tuscan renaissance garden… an unusual, captivating novel that is a cut above the norm’ The Times
‘Unputdownable… hugely atmospheric’ Daily Mirror
'To be savoured… Mills weaves together an intriguing mixture of love, loss and divided loyalties' Guardian
Author
About Mark Mills
Mark Mills graduated from Cambridge University in 1986. He has lived in both Italy and France, and has written for the screen. His first novel, The Whaleboat House, won the 2004 Crime Writers' Association Award for Best Novel by a debut author. His second, The Savage Garden, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read and a No. 1 bestseller. Under the name Mark B. Mills, he has written the comic novel, Waiting for Doggo. He lives near Oxford with his wife and two children.
Photograph © Willow and Pea Portraits
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