Penniless and disgraced, Adelaide Wentworth is feeling rather desperate.
With nothing left to lose, she and her sister, Louisa, flee to Lake
Geneva with Adelaide's lover, the infamous poet Julian Estes. There,
Louisa hopes to persuade Bayard Sonnier--celebrated writer and her
former lover--to advance Julian's career. He is their last hope for
salvation.
At the Villa Diodati--the place that inspired the writing of
Frankenstein sixty years earlier--Louisa plots to rekindle her affair
with Bayard, while Adelaide hopes to restore her fading love for Julian
by being the muse he needs.
But soon, secrets are revealed, passions ignited, and hidden talents
discovered. Adelaide begins to imagine a different life. Confused, she
turns to Giovanni Calina--Bayard's assistant and a man with his own
secrets and deep resentments--and the two form a dangerous alliance. No
one leaves unscathed in this richly imagined, emotionally nuanced tale
of passion, ambition, inspiration, and redemption.