In a theatre in Las Vegas, the stage is all set for music hall star Sylvia Chrystal's sell-out show.
All she needs to do is turn up for the rehearsal.
But Sylvia isn't in Vegas. She wakes up, bloody and dishevelled, in Barcelona. And she has no idea how she got there.
As her agents in America frantically try to find their missing star, Sylvia has a task of her own. She needs to try to work out why on earth she has just woken up in a pool of her own blood beside an airport runway in the blazing heat.
As she gradually begins to try to piece together the events that led her to there, a series of strange flashbacks pierce her brain and one person emerges in full force: her long-time lover, Celestino.
But Celestino has now married someone else, and Sylvia faces a choice: is she in Spain to try and win him back, or will she try to leave the past behind and face what promises to be a bright future in the United States?
As Sylvia falls in with a group of upper-class English drinking their way round Barcelona, one thing becomes increasingly clear: in just the dirty clothes she woke up in and no money to her name, she is going to need a lot of help whichever choice she makes.
But then Sylvia's life starts to turn even blacker and spiral out of control, and things become even less clear than they were at the start.
With its strange, dreamlike narrative, Siesta is a black, sexy thriller from a mistress of the genre.
'... a surging intensity that keeps the reader glued to the page.' - New York Times
'Powerful romantic fiction in the tradition of Emily Bronte.' - Guardian
Patrice Chaplin is an author, playwright, journalist and the producer of the BBC radio documentary on The Cabala in Spain. In addition to seven novels, including Harriet Hunter, Having it Away and The Unforgotten, she has written many short stories and plays for radio and television. She is the author of From the Balcony written for the National Theatre and Radio 3. Her novel Siesta is based on the years described in her volume of autobiography, Albany Park, and has been filmed.
Genre: Mystery
All she needs to do is turn up for the rehearsal.
But Sylvia isn't in Vegas. She wakes up, bloody and dishevelled, in Barcelona. And she has no idea how she got there.
As her agents in America frantically try to find their missing star, Sylvia has a task of her own. She needs to try to work out why on earth she has just woken up in a pool of her own blood beside an airport runway in the blazing heat.
As she gradually begins to try to piece together the events that led her to there, a series of strange flashbacks pierce her brain and one person emerges in full force: her long-time lover, Celestino.
But Celestino has now married someone else, and Sylvia faces a choice: is she in Spain to try and win him back, or will she try to leave the past behind and face what promises to be a bright future in the United States?
As Sylvia falls in with a group of upper-class English drinking their way round Barcelona, one thing becomes increasingly clear: in just the dirty clothes she woke up in and no money to her name, she is going to need a lot of help whichever choice she makes.
But then Sylvia's life starts to turn even blacker and spiral out of control, and things become even less clear than they were at the start.
With its strange, dreamlike narrative, Siesta is a black, sexy thriller from a mistress of the genre.
Praise for Patrice Chaplin
'... a surging intensity that keeps the reader glued to the page.' - New York Times
'Powerful romantic fiction in the tradition of Emily Bronte.' - Guardian
Patrice Chaplin is an author, playwright, journalist and the producer of the BBC radio documentary on The Cabala in Spain. In addition to seven novels, including Harriet Hunter, Having it Away and The Unforgotten, she has written many short stories and plays for radio and television. She is the author of From the Balcony written for the National Theatre and Radio 3. Her novel Siesta is based on the years described in her volume of autobiography, Albany Park, and has been filmed.
Genre: Mystery
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