- Published: 2 November 2021
- ISBN: 9780241986745
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 352
- RRP: $22.99
Belladonna
- Published: 2 November 2021
- ISBN: 9780241986745
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 352
- RRP: $22.99
This raw and tender tale brims with vivid prose, whether the lush descriptions of the Italian countryside or Bridget's tortured intimate thoughts. A searingly honest coming of age story which steals your heart
Sunday Mirror
Eleanor Catton's The Rehearsal meets Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides meets Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley, this unputdownable and lush novel had me entranced and totally absorbed in the woozy, covertly sensual world of a 1950s Italian convent. Anbara Salam has a gimlet-eyed, ferocious talent for capturing the obsessive urgency and convolutions of power and desire in adolescent experience
Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti
I was completely captivated. Thrillingly ambitious, moving, painful and insightful. Bridget broke my heart, she's an alarmingly relatable anti heroine, and I think this book has captured something unique about the experience of jealousy, betrayal and the muddied waters that lie between friendship and obsessive love. It reminded me of The Talented Mr Ripley, but told with acute sensitivity and emotional intelligence
Daisy Buchanan
A moving tale about identity, love, and loss. Anbara Salam unspools a compelling narrative about a young woman struggling to find herself amid family secrets and her own hidden truths. It's the kind of emotionally rich story that stays with you
Anissa Gray, author of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
The tender, exquisite prose brilliantly captures the feelings and fault lines in the girls' friendship. This is a discerning look at secret infatuation and racial prejudice
Publishers Weekly
I was utterly captivated, from first page to last
Anton DiSclafani, New York Times bestselling author of The After Party
Lush and languid, this sultry coming-of-age tale captures a fractured friendship and the yearnings of girlhood
Daily Mail
Reminiscent of the steamy passion found in The Talented Mr Ripley, this novel is a beguiling whirlwind of young love and obsession
Elle
A raw coming of age story, with heartfelt themes of racial prejudice and forbidden love
Best Magazine
An enthralling tale of race, secrets and the desire to belong
i