From the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Paris
Apartment and The Guest List, an evocative love story set along the
Italian Riviera about a group of charismatic stars who all have secrets
and pasts they try desperately -- and dangerously -- to
hide.
Rome, 1953: Hal, an itinerant journalist flailing in the post-war
darkness, has come to the Eternal City to lose himself and to seek
absolution for the thing that haunts him. One evening he finds himself
on the steps of a palazzo, walking into a world of privilege and light.
Here, on a rooftop above the city, he meets the mysterious Stella. Hal
and Stella are from different worlds, but their connection is magnetic.
Together, they escape the crowded party and imagine a different life,
even if it's just for a night. Yet Stella vanishes all too quickly, and
Hal is certain their paths won't cross again.
But a year later they are unexpectedly thrown together, after Hal
receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to
assist on a trip of a lifetime -- acting as a reporter on a tremendous
yacht, skimming its way along the Italian coast toward Cannes film
festival, the most famous artists and movie stars of the day gathered to
promote a new film.
Of all the luminaries aboard -- an Italian ingénue, an American star, a
reclusive director -- only one holds Hal in thrall: Stella. And while
each has a past that belies the gilded surface, Stella has the most to
hide. As Hal's obsession with Stella grows, he becomes determined to
bring back the girl she once was, the girl who's been confined to
history. An irresistibly entertaining and atmospheric novel set in some
of the world's most glamorous locales, The Invitation is a sultry love
story about the ways in which the secrets of the past stay with us -- no
matter how much we try to escape them.
