This novel is a gothic tale set mostly on a countryside estate in Tuscany. Adopted as a baby, Julia grew up in America without any information about any of her biological ties. She is baffled when contacted by an attorney who informs Julia of an inheritance of residence and money bequeathed by a recently deceased relative. The journey she is about to embark on may have all the answers to her past, or it may just be a trip that leads her into madness.
I enjoyed the exotic Italian setting and found this novel’s initial premise quite intriguing. All of the main ingredients for a thrilling mystery are currently present and accounted for. I wanted to love this book much more than I did. I should have been able to race across the pages filled with excitement and suspense. Unfortunately for me, the tension was crippled by a stilted narrative that seems contrived and unnecessarily verbose at times. I feel like stronger developmental edits could make vast improvements to this manuscript and deliver the scintillating novel it was meant to be.
I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Unraveling of Julia for my unbiased evaluation. 3 stars
