The Woman in the Castello

From the moment I first heard about The Woman in the Castello by Kelsey James, I knew I had to read it. Set in a small village outside of Rome, it follows a struggling actress who may just have her big break in a horror film… but she’s also dealing with a real-life horror of her own when her aunt mysteriously goes missing. With Italian culture, a haunting atmosphere, workplace romance, and family drama, this is the historical mystery I’ve been waiting for!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Silvia is in Rome to shoot a movie when the film suddenly goes bust. Broke and the only one able to support her sick mother and secret daughter, Silvia needs to find work, and fast. She’s lucky to get cast in a horror movie—her first starring role!—and that it’s being shot in her distant aunt’s castle. Never mind that this aunt and Silvia’s mom have been estranged for decades. Things are looking up for Silvia… until her aunt mysteriously goes missing. No one seems to take her concerns seriously, and Silvia worries something sinister may have happened. Between filming issues, family drama, and an unexpected romance, Silvia is determined to found out what happened to her aunt and whether she herself is also in danger.

Review

I was very excited for The Woman in the Castello, and I’m pleased to say that it fully lived up to the hype. From start to finish, this was an enjoyable read that’s well written, atmospheric, and completely engrossing. 

This novel is told from the perspective of Silvia, a twenty-year-old actress who’s in desperate need of some work and a paycheck. Some of her colleagues know about her mother, who has terminal cancer. What they don’t know about is Silvia’s two-year-old daughter, Lulu. Silvia is working so hard to support the three of them, but even when things go sideways, she’s always ready to do what it takes to survive, whether that’s talking her way into an audition or waiting tables at a local restaurant. She’s a hard worker, likable, and easy to root for. 

One thing that drew me to The Woman in the Castello is its setting in 1960s Italy. We get a bit of the Italian culture and the landscape: There is some use of Italian words, a vividly drawn village, a crystal blue lake behind the castle. But moreover, we get a glimpse into the political divide of the people some twenty years after WWII. There’s a palpable weight here, with some families broken apart by taking opposing during the war. Within her own family and with some of her coworkers, Silvia must confront people who are bigoted, who bully others, and whose values seem way off. 

This is related to some of the family drama in the novel. I love how Silvia is a caring mother to Lulu, but I can also understand her feeling that she must keep her daughter a secret. How would others view her, knowing she was pregnant as an unmarried teenager? How might that affect her career? Then there’s the sad reality of her mother’s cancer, as well as the many secrets between them. Silvia’s mother and aunt Gabriella have been estranged for decades, and though she quickly learns part of the reason (Gabriella admits to having been a fascist, despite her parents being killed by Nazis), Silvia doesn’t learn the whole story until much later. I was shocked at what eventually was revealed! 

Speaking of her aunt: A big part of the plot here is Gabriella’s disappearance shortly after filming begins at her castle. I love how Silvia is there to film a horror movie… and it seems that her real life is a sort of waking horror itself. Why is there blood in the garden? Did someone hurt, or even kill, Gabriella? Then there are the accidents that seem to put Silvia’s own life at risk, not to mention the threats. All of this is compounded by the apparent haunted nature of the castle. There are so many interweaving elements here, with Silvia growing more concerned as different issues and suspects arise. The Woman in the Castello has the perfect atmosphere for this mystery, feeling gothic and potentially sinister. 

The movie element is also brilliantly done. I enjoyed seeing so much behind-the-scenes of what goes into filming a movie, from the many different people on set (actors, directors, stylists, fixers, and more) to the out-of-order filming sequence. There’s drama amongst the actors (Terrence is a total jerk) and distrust as stress and passions rise. 

Finally, we can’t leave out the romance. The chemistry between Silvia and Paul was instant. Although the advancement of their relationship seemed too sudden and quick for me, I liked the subtle buildup before and the development after. 

Final Thoughts

The Woman in the Castello is a wonderfully written and engaging novel with so many interplaying elements: mystery, romance, family drama, Italian culture, career struggles, history. It’s fast-paced and an easy read, even with so much depth and nuance. I absolutely loved reading this impressive debut, and I look forward to whatever is next for Kelsey James. 

Get the Book

You can buy The Woman in the Castello here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

The Woman in the Castello by Kelsey James
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction; Historical Mystery; Historical Romance
Setting	Italy
Number of Pages	304
Format I Read	ebook (NetGalley)
Original Publication Date	July 25, 2023

Official Summary

Set in 1960s Italy, this stylish, atmospheric debut spins a bewitching web of ruthless ambition, family secrets, and the consequences of forbidden love, as an ambitious American actress snags the starring role in a mysterious horror movie shooting on location in a crumbling medieval castle outside Rome…

Readers who enjoy the moody gothic allure of Kate Morton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia or the immersive settings of Lucinda Riley and Fiona Davis will be enthralled by Kelsey James’ spellbinding web of intriguing mystery, family secrets, forbidden love, and midcentury Italian flair.

“You’ll get lost in the pages of this lush, entertaining story.” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

Rome, 1965: Aspiring actress Silvia Whitford arrives at Rome’s famed Cinecittà Studios from Los Angeles, ready for her big break and a taste of la dolce vita. Instead, she learns that the movie in which she was cast has been canceled. Desperate for money, Silvia has only one choice: seek out the Italian aunt she has never met.

Gabriella Conti lives in a crumbling castello on the edge of a volcanic lake. Silvia’s mother refuses to explain the rift that drove the sisters apart, but Silvia is fascinated by Gabriella, a once-famous actress who still radiates charisma. And the eerie castle inspires Silvia’s second chance when it becomes the location for a new horror movie, aptly named The Revenge of the Lake Witch—and she lands a starring role.

Silvia immerses herself in the part of an ingenue tormented by the ghost of her beautiful, seductive ancestor. But when Gabriella abruptly vanishes, the movie’s make-believe terrors seep into reality. No one else on set seems to share Silvia’s suspicions. Yet as she delves into Gabriella’s disappearance, she triggers a chain of events that illuminate dark secrets in the past—and a growing menace in the present…