Review | The Silk Pavilion

by Sarah Walton

Published : 9th June 2022

Publisher : Barbican Press

Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback, Paperback

Genre : Thriller

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Synopsis

Lucy is on assignment.

A wild, reclusive writer awaits her.

She wants his life story.

He wants her everything.

A whirlwind romance takes them to the highs and lows of Deià. But beneath them lie the bodies of a generation and as Lucy unearths the darkness, her own skeletons begin to rattle the closet.

Is she doomed to repeat the patterns of her childhood abuse? Can narcissists change their ways?

And what is that tapping on Villa Rosa’s pipes?

My Review

This was a really good read!

Set in a beautiful villa named Rosa in the picturesque Spanish town of DeÌa our protagonist, a young English woman goes to write his story but unexpectedly a romance forms between the pair but it is far from ideal and drags Lucy back to her dark childhood.

I really liked Lucy’s character, she has suffered an abusive past and the author encapsulates this subtly throughout, allowing us to see how abusive trauma from childhood can lead unconsciously to the same abuses in adulthood.

Miguel’s character is a narcissistic control freak. He abuses his hold over Lucy making him quite disliked, not at any point did I warm to him which is the point entirely I think so also very well written.

Weaved throughout this story there are historical facts from the Spanish civil war threaded within the fictional story which totally fascinated me, making for a very vivid and enthralling read. The villa itself was very atmospheric and the detail that is described to us within the writing makes for very addictive reading.

I would say the genre of this story is a thriller but at the same time it’s also a woman’s journey to survive and discover her true self-worth, Lucy is afraid of losing herself to her fractured mind, feeling herself being pulled into situations she doesn’t want to go back to being in, but feeling like it’s at some point inevitable. Her character is strong, she just has to realise it.

Why I Loved It

This story is disturbing, chilling and extremely gripping. The main character is likeable but very broken from her past traumas which are only reignited when she starts an doomed love affair with the man she has chosen to write about.

Miguel is a recluse and the villa is the perfect place to control and manipulate Lucy, the heart breaking part was she seemed to have no control over being pulled under by his manipulating ways having lived through abuse before as a child.

The way the author has written this story really makes you consider the traumatic affects brought on in adulthood that are forced on a child.

I highly recommend this book for your ever growing tbr.

Thank you so much @randomthingstours abd @barbicanpress for this blogspot and gripping copy.