THE SAVAGE GARDEN
by
MARK MILLS

This second novel by Mark Mills is a stunning success. It is a very articulate, literary book that slowly builds the very atmospheric plot. It draws the reader, very successfully, into a world of late 1958.

Behind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions seem to have a secret life of their own – and a secret message, too, for those with eyes to read it.

Young scholar Adam Strickland is just such a person. Arriving in 1958, he finds the Docci family, their house and the unique garden as seductive as each other. But post-War Italy is still a strange, even dangerous place, and the Doccis have some dark skeletons hidden away which Adam finds himself compelled to investigate.

Before this mysterious and beautiful summer ends, Adam will uncover two stories of love, revenge and murder, separated by 400 years… but is another tragedy about to be added to the villa's cursed past?

‘An intriguing puzzle, elegantly written… a pleasure to read… the atmosphere of an Italian summer and of the mysterious garden are beautifully captured’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Mills writes beautifully; leading us gently and atmospherically through the Tuscan renaissance garden… an unusual, captivating novel that is a cut above the norm’
THE TIMES

‘Unputdownable… hugely atmospheric’
DAILY MIRROR

‘A mesmerizing piece of writing… Mills is a skillful writer and combines all the disparate strands into a striking tapestry’
INDEPENDENT

‘An intriguing historical thriller which confirms him as a first-class and unusual crime writer’
DAILY MAIL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mark Mills is a screenwriter. His film credits include The Reckoning, an adaptation of Barry Unsworth’s Morality Play, due for release in Spring 2004. Amagansett is his first novel.

He has been nominated for the Richard and Judy Book Prizes for “The Savage Garden” and won the John Creasy Dagger Award for his previous novel “The Whaleboat House”.

Birmingham101 Review
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would certainly recommend it.  Mark Mills cleverly builds both the  atmosphere and tension throughout the novel and makes the reader, like Adam, the central character, desperately want to know the secret of the two mysteries of Villa Docci. There's no modern-day gore and fancy detective methods in this crime novel but a gentle build up of facts and events and a skilfull unravelling of a long-dead puzzle. If you prefer your mysteries to be rather more intellectual than sensational, you will enjoy The Savage Garden too.

For your chance to win your very own copy of
THE SAVAGE GARDEN
simply answer the following question: