Julia Fine: Maddalena and the Dark [2024] paperback

A darkness takes shape beneath the waters of Venice . . .
and somewhere in the Ospedale della Pieta,
there are two girls breathing beside each other,
legs entwined.

'Enchanting and suspenseful'
'Rich and heartbreaking'
'A lush, decadent fairytale'

Maddalena and the Dark is an opulent and sensuous Venetian fairytale, full of music, magic, passion, and betrayal, perfect for fans of Bunny, A Study in Drowning, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

'[A] beguiling fairy tale' VANITY FAIR (A Best Book of Summer)

'Enchanted...A slow-burn gothic novel that will make you lose track of your surroundings . . . An atmospheric banger' LITHUB

'Fine beguiles with this decadent tale of desire . . . With the alluring Venice backdrop, this will frighten and captivate in equal measure' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review

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Venice, 1717. Before Maddalena arrived at the Ospedale della Pieta, Venice's most illustrious music school, fifteen-year-old orphan Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.

Sent to the Pieta until her noble family can find her a husband, Maddalena is cunning, passionate, and unlike anyone Luisa has ever met. Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine.

But Maddalena has made a dangerous wager and, for both girls, there will be an unimaginable price to pay.

'Maddalena and the Dark is chocolate laced with poison. To read it is to fall under an enchantment . . . A sweeping, dark fairy tale about the violent hearts of teenage girls' KATIE GUTIERREZ

'A sumptuous feast of a novel, rich and strange and heady. Julia Fine is an extraordinary writer' KELLY LINK

'From its first sentence, this novel curled its crooked little witch's finger around my heart and still hasn't let go' AMY JO BURNS

'A tense, slow-burning portrait of how desire too easily tangles with envy and the price we pay when we get what we want' ISLE McELROY

'An ecstatic, immersive, layered and astonishingly rendered depiction of girlhood, ambition, violence, art, and desire' LYNN STEGER STRONG

'Beautiful, suspenseful, sensuous, real. If you love music or Venice, or if you've ever simply been a young girl aching for womanhood, this is the book for you. Reading this felt like indulging in a secret, in the best way' AJA GABEL

'Maddalena and the Dark is the book of my dreams - a feverish, intimate story of obsession and ambition, set in Venice's shadowy canals and glittering palazzos' SARA SLIGAR