Belladonna
Book Feature - Belladonna by Anbara Salam
HBL Note: Belladonna by Anbara Salam is being described as “ The Virgin Suicides meets The Talented Mr. Ripley.” It is a coming-of-age novel exploring friendship and sisterhood reminiscent of My Brilliant Friend and Call Me By Your Name. How could you not be drawn to read a book being compared to such powerful novels? Scroll down to read more.
Belladonna by Anbara Salam
From the publisher:
Isabella is beautiful, inscrutable, and popular. Her best friend, Bridget, keeps quietly to the fringes of their Connecticut Catholic school, watching everything and everyone, but most especially Isabella.
In 1957, when the girls graduate, they land coveted spots at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy, a prestigious art history school on the grounds of a silent convent. There, free of her claustrophobic home and the town that will always see her and her Egyptian mother as outsiders, Bridget discovers she can reinvent herself as anyone she desires... perhaps even someone Isabella could desire in return.
But as that glittering year goes on, Bridget begins to suspect Isabella is keeping a secret from her, one that will change the course of their lives forever.
