Anbara Salam’s new novel Belladonna is the coming-of-age story of two young women, set amongst the mid-late 1950s cultures of both the United States and Italy. High school student Bridget has never really fit in or had a group of close friends. She quietly keeps to herself at school, longing to be part of the “in crowd.” When Isabella, a beautiful and vivacious peer, moves to town, Bridget instantly becomes fascinated with her. Longing at first to be her friend, then as time passes for more, Bridget finds herself increasingly enamoured as she and Isabella build a bond.
Following their high school graduation, both Bridget and Isabella are accepted into a prestigious program in northern Italy: the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila. They travel from their home in Connecticut across the ocean to spend one year studying and, hopefully, having grand European adventures. They live with a cluster of other young women among a group of nuns, studying hard throughout the week and exploring the local town and wilderness during their free time. As Bridget yearns to spread her wings while abroad, she also falls deeply in love with Isabella. But Isabella is keeping a great secret which will ultimately impact them both.
Salam builds a beautifully believable world around the reader, settling them in amongst not only the clothing and hairstyles, but also the values and virtues, of Americans in the 1950s. Bridget’s journey to Italy is not just a physical exploration of a far away land she has never seen, but it is equally a journey of growth and self-discovery. Themes of friendship and love, family structure and class, are also woven throughout this well-crafted novel. Salam even examines race and cultural identity, as Bridget’s mother is Egyptian, a truth that she guards tightly with her new friends in Italy, as she has always felt like an outsider because of this.
Perhaps the most interesting, and most relatable, aspect of this coming-of-age tale is Bridget’s desperate desire to belong, as well as to be desirable herself. Salam deftly explores the ability of an individual to come into their own and to learn to be comfortable (or not) with that person. This constant underlying current is palpable throughout the novel. And while this motivation helps Bridget to branch out of her comfort zone and grow as a person while in Italy, it also leads her to make some questionable decisions as the story progresses. More than anything she wants to feel accepted — and particularly she wants to truly be seen (and loved!) by Isabella — and she will do nearly anything to attempt to make this happen.
Salam’s writing flows easily, making Belladonna a quick-moving and enjoyable read. Her characters are well-sculpted and the storyline of first love, the almost obsessive infatuation with another human, is compelling. If you enjoy fiction with threads of history woven throughout as well as books which expose the internal struggles of the protagonist to grow and change, then you will enjoy this novel. I recommend it for fans of fiction by authors such as Adriana Trigiani. Many thanks to Berkley for providing me with an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own. Belladonna is now available from a bookseller near you.
Belladonna is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
An evocative, atmospheric story of friendship and obsession set in the 1950s that follows two schoolgirls from Connecticut whose lives are changed forever when they travel to a silent convent in northern Italy to study art for a year
Isabella is beautiful, inscrutable, and popular. Her best friend, Bridget, keeps quietly to the fringes of their Connecticut Catholic school, watching everything and everyone, but most especially Isabella.
In 1957, when the girls graduate, they land coveted spots at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy, a prestigious art history school in the grounds of a silent convent. There, free of her claustrophobic home and the town that will always see her and her Egyptian mother as outsiders, Bridget discovers she can re-invent herself as anyone she desires.
Only Isabella knows the real Bridget, just as Bridget knows the true Isabella. But as that glittering year goes on, Bridget begins to suspect Isabella is keeping secrets from her, secrets that will ruin all of her plans and that will change the course of their lives forever.
