A beguiling whirlwind of love and obsession Elle It is summer 1956 when fifteenyearold Bridget first meets Isabella. In their conservative Connecticut town Isabella is a breath of fresh air. She is worldly alluring and brazen an enigma.When they receive an offer to study at the Academy in Italy Bridget is thrilled. This is her ticket to Europe and better still a chance to spend nine whole months with her glamorous and unpredictable best friend.There lodged in a convent of nuns who have taken a vow of silence the two girls move towards a passionate but fragile intimacy. As the year rolls on Bridget grows increasingly fearful that she will lose Isabellas affections and the more desperate she gets the greater the lengths she will go to keep her.Belladonna is a hypnotizing comingof age story set against the stunning and evocative backdrop of rural Northern Italy. Anbara Salam tells a story of friendship and obsession desire and betrayal and the lies we tell in order to belong. An enthralling tale of race secrets and the desire to belong iLush and languid this sultry comingofage tale captures a fractured friendship and the yearnings of girlhood Daily MailRaw and tender . . . this searingly honest coming of age story will steal your heart Sunday MirrorThe Virgin Suicides meets Patricia Highsmiths The Talented Mr Ripley this unputdownable and lush novel had me entranced Sharlene Teo author of Ponti