Maddalena and the Dark

Sumptuous and lyrical, Maddalena and the Dark absolutely shines with the beauty of Venice, the terror of first loves, and the singular, gothic passion of musicians and artists. So deeply romantic! So alluring! I wanted to get lost in its pages forever. Recommended By Nicole S, Powells.com

For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic, a novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous wager

"A sumptuous feast of a novel, rich and strange and heady. Julia Fine is an extraordinary writer." — Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get In Trouble

What do you want most? What will you pay for it?

Venice, 1717. Before she meets Maddalena, fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Piet , she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls' orchestra and be no longer just an orphan but a star, prot g of the great Antonio Vivaldi. 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 Piet to be reformed until the rumors about her noble family have passed, Maddalena is unlike anyone Luisa has met. Clever, reckless, and passionate, Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine. But Maddalena has made a wager with something deep in the waters of Venice, and there will be a price to pay.

Heady, sumptuous, and utterly enthralling, Maddalena and the Dark is the love story between two girls and the boundless desires that might ruin them.

"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, with an ending that still keeps me up at night. Fine's writing is magnetic and unstoppable. I can't stop talking to people about this book!" — Sara Sligar, author of Take Me Apart

"A sumptuous feast of a novel, rich and strange and heady. Julia Fine is an extraordinary writer." — Kelly Link, national bestselling author of Get In Trouble

"Fine beguiles with this decadent tale of desire set in 18th-century Venice...With the alluring Venice backdrop, this will frighten and captivate in equal measure." — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Julia Fine is the author of The Upstairs House, winner of the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction; What Should Be Wild, which was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Superior First Novel Award; and the forthcoming Maddalena and the Dark. She teaches writing in Chicago, where she lives with her husband and children.