PALACE OF THE DROWNED

In her taut and mesmerising follow up to Tangerine, Mangan plunges us into another exotic and bewitchingly rendered local, this time Venice off-season, moody and damp, where well known novelist Frankie Croy has gone to escape dark memories. Instead, a surprise entanglement with a mysterious young woman sets Frankie on edge, threatening to unravel her already precarious mental state. Working to leave the previous year behind, another novel published to little success, a scathing review she can't quite manage to forget and most of all the real reason behind her self-imposed exile from London - the incident at the Savoy. Frankie attempts to return to the page, ignoring the strained relationship with her best friend, the urgent phone calls from her editor, and the growing fear that the end of her career is imminent. Then Gilly appears, eager to befriend her favourite author, but Frankie wonders just how much of what Gilly tells her is the truth. The novel is set against the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice. 374pp in large softback with fairly large print.