In 1590, the great and tormented composer Carlo Gesualdo murdered his beautiful wife Maria d'Avalos and her aristocratic lover. Gesualdo was a character of Shakespearian proportions: nobleman, musical genius, and—for the last 16 years of his life—an alleged madman. With the chilling calculation of a hunter, he staged the violent and bloody murder of the lovers like an opera. Yet far from ending his torment, the murder caused Gesualdo’s subsequent years to increasingly be filled by demons and dementia. Inspired by these haunting events, this lush and sensual novel vividly imagines the life of the mysterious and seductive Maria, her tormented marriage to Carlo, and her affair with Fabrizio Carafa, the most handsome and accomplished nobleman in Naples.

In 1590, the great and tormented composer Carlo Gesualdo murdered his beautiful wife Maria d'Avalos and her aristocratic lover. Gesualdo was a character of Shakespearian proportions: nobleman, musical genius, and—for the last 16 years of his life—an alleged madman. With the chilling calculation of a hunter, he staged the violent and bloody murder of the lovers like an opera. Yet far from ending his torment, the murder caused Gesualdo’s subsequent years to increasingly be filled by demons and dementia. Inspired by these haunting events, this lush and sensual novel vividly imagines the life of the mysterious and seductive Maria, her tormented marriage to Carlo, and her affair with Fabrizio Carafa, the most handsome and accomplished nobleman in Naples.