Palace of the Drowned

Set in the days before and after the 1966 flood, the worst ever experienced by the city of Venice, Frances Croy is 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. Sequestered within an aging palazzo, Frankie finds comfort in the emptiness of Venice in winter, in the absence of others. And then Gilly appears. A young woman claiming a connection from back home, one that Frankie can't quite seem to recall, Gilly seems determined for the two women to become fast friends. But there's something about her that continues to give Frankie pause, that makes her wonder just how much of what Gilly tells her is actually the truth.