The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni

Happy Wednesday, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Danielle Trussoni's latest, The Ancestor.

Bert Monte is struggling. After experiencing another heartbreaking miscarriage, she's desperate to move on. And as part of that moving on, she's asked her husband to leave. Trying to get herself used to a new normal has been an ongoing battle. And then she receives something odd in the mail: correspondence from Italy that claims she's the sole descendant of an aristocratic family with an estate in Italy. 

Bert is stunned. She knows little about her background and has no one she can ask. The letter is accompanied, shortly thereafter, by a visit from a lawyer who says Bert must fly to Italy to meet the other lawyers and view the estate. 

Knowing this is the kind of thing that never happens to everyday people, Bert is leery. But a trip to Italy could be just what she needs. When she arrives, however, she discovers that the grand estate has fallen into disrepair and the rumored family wealth is all but gone. But it's the family history that's especially odd. And as she learns more about her heritage, the more she realizes just how odd it is. 

If you're craving something darkly gothic and mysterious, The Ancestor is perfect!

I know a lot of us have been struggling to read of late. I seem to have gotten a little bit of that back, though still not in a work capacity (it's a much different kind of reading). The trick for me has been true escapism reads and narratives that really suck me in. Which tend to lean on the darker side, even amidst this chaos.

Trussoni, who wrote Angelology and Angelopolis, knows how to weave an incredibly engrossing tale!  And this one begins like a fairy tale (just like the book's promotional material promised!). A promise of a new start and a grand inheritance. A past and history that's previously unknown. Of course, gothic tales are really just a darker side of fairy tales in a lot of ways. And it's clear to the reader pretty early on that this is not going to be a sparkly happily every after kind of fairy tale, but rather a monster in the attic gothic story!

Bert's letter is in Italian, a language she doesn't speak or read. So she has to seek help in reading the correspondence. And that help comes in the form of her soon-to-be-ex's great aunt, a woman who never really liked Bert all that much anyway. And she kind of makes it clear why when she conveys the meaning of the letter to Bert.

She and Bert's grandfather, as well as others, immigrated from Italy around WWII from a tiny village near Turin. A cold and desolate place, if she's to be believed, that was also home to a monster that stole children. And when Bert arrives in Italy she discovers a book that tells more about this strange tale and her native land.

But of course Bert doesn't put much stock in mythology and folklore, she's a modern woman and these kinds of things always have a logical explanation!

Are you getting chills yet? Because I certainly was! And all of this happens in the first 50 or so pages!

Like I said, I need escapism right now. Plus, I've always been a fan of gothic reads. Can't get enough of them, honestly! So The Ancestor was a perfect fit for my reading needs.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Danielle Trussoni and her work you can like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookBar