Ada’s father was a famous author and a member of the welsh ‘landed gentry’ so when he dies and her mother sells their estate in the country, they have to move to a small terraced house in London.
Ada feels cheated out of the life she feels she should have had, made worse by a rejection from Oxford University. But when her godmother offers to pay for her to take a gap year trip to study art history in Italy, she jumps at the chance to finally reestablish herself with ‘her people’.
But things don’t quite go to plan - or do they?
The story is retold from Ada’s point of view and is incredibly atmospheric and intriguing with a menacing air throughout as we follow Ada’s travels. The group of teens who make up this year’s ‘Dilettanti’ are all pretty awful, privileged, entitled and snobbish and it’s hard to find a likeable character among them. Ada herself is manipulative and conniving but in spite of this I thought they were all fascinating. I was actually pretty impressed by Oliver’s level of nastiness! And as the trip draws to a close, a tragic event gives Ada the perfect opportunity to ingratiate herself with certain members of the group.
The story takes you on a tour of some of the most beautiful Italian cities focussing on their culture, art history and architecture and it is obvious that the author knows her stuff. The descriptions are so in depth and captivating you can tell this is a subject close to her heart. Never having been to Italy, this was a lovely taster for me.
The writing is exquisite, so intellectual and mesmerising it was a real pleasure to read. There is a lovely pace to the story where the twists kind of creep up on you, there’s no sensationalism, it’s just pure class. Fans of The Secret History will love this and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Laura Vaughan’s next book!
Ada feels cheated out of the life she feels she should have had, made worse by a rejection from Oxford University. But when her godmother offers to pay for her to take a gap year trip to study art history in Italy, she jumps at the chance to finally reestablish herself with ‘her people’.
But things don’t quite go to plan - or do they?
The story is retold from Ada’s point of view and is incredibly atmospheric and intriguing with a menacing air throughout as we follow Ada’s travels. The group of teens who make up this year’s ‘Dilettanti’ are all pretty awful, privileged, entitled and snobbish and it’s hard to find a likeable character among them. Ada herself is manipulative and conniving but in spite of this I thought they were all fascinating. I was actually pretty impressed by Oliver’s level of nastiness! And as the trip draws to a close, a tragic event gives Ada the perfect opportunity to ingratiate herself with certain members of the group.
The story takes you on a tour of some of the most beautiful Italian cities focussing on their culture, art history and architecture and it is obvious that the author knows her stuff. The descriptions are so in depth and captivating you can tell this is a subject close to her heart. Never having been to Italy, this was a lovely taster for me.
The writing is exquisite, so intellectual and mesmerising it was a real pleasure to read. There is a lovely pace to the story where the twists kind of creep up on you, there’s no sensationalism, it’s just pure class. Fans of The Secret History will love this and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Laura Vaughan’s next book!