I've been a fan of Victoria's over the last few years so I'm always excited to read something new from her.

BEWARE: This book will have you hooked!

Victoria's previous six novels, including Hollywood Sinners and Power Games are all glamorous, bonk-busting, summer chart toppers. The Silent Fountain is a new direction for Victoria with a much deeper, twisting story that draws you in and entrances you from the beginning.

The story is written with a dual narrative between Vivien and Lucy, two women far apart in years but with something intertwining their lives together. Readers are also treated to a time flip element to Vivien's story which lets you come to fully understand her character and back story.

From the start there is just something, hard to pin down exactly the feeling, but something that feels like suspense and excitement with an edge of fear and real tangibility. After reading the first fifteen or so chapters of the book I still couldn't get a sense of where the story was heading!

One thing that really struck me about the book, alongside the story, was the vivid detail and imagery employed throughout. I've been to Italy and can recall acutely the dusty, fragrant heat of the day and the cool clarity of the night time. The novel was like a step back to that holiday with a feeling that all senses were been tantalised throughout. Even the cover had my interest piqued!


This is sure to be one of the books you see at every poolside this Summer with heads of romance and suspense fans alike stuck inside! I am excited to see what's next!

Victoria Fox is perhaps best known for writing sizzling bonkbusters with a hint of mystery that always provide such an escapist read. But now she is back with something slightly different and almost sinister in tone which is evident from the cover of The Silent Fountain as it has such dark, foreboding colours compared to the usual brash, bright colours normally a book by this author would have. It's nice to see authors veering out of their comfort zone and taking things in a new direction. I was even more delighted to see this book featured a dual storyline between the past and the present which is just my kind of read.

By the time I was a few chapters in I was kicking myself that I had let this book languish on my Kindle just that little bit too long. Victoria Fox may have ventured down new avenues with this book but she certainly hasn't lost her talent for writing an insanely good story that keeps you turning the pages eager to know more. OK it doesn't feature racy sex scenes and the intrigue and glamour that her readers may have come to expect but that didn't bother me in the slightest as the feelings of menace, hate, evil and dominance intensified with every turn of the page and held me in their thrall. Before I knew it I found myself halfway through this compulsive story whose main characters Lucy Whittaker and Vivien Lockheart had really got inside my head and I really didn't want to leave the book down until I had gotten the answers to so many questions.

The story moves back and forth between Italy in the present and also the past life of Vivien Lockheart beginning in America. It soon becomes apparent the power of love is a strong theme throughout the story. As the story progresses similarities emerge between our female characters yet at the same time there are numerous hidden depths to both that are waiting to be uncovered. Lucy lives in London but even from the first chapter it's evident there has been a recent trauma in her life and everything is about to change. She is attempting to come to terms with what has happened and how both her head and heart have been messed with yet at the same time she needs to keep things under wraps. I enjoyed how we weren't privy to all of Lucy's story in one fell swoop instead we are drip fed bits of tantalising information at the end of every chapter that left you open mouthed more than once. There were such cliffhangers at the end of each chapter I found myself torn in two, wanting to read about whoever was next or else I found myself want to skip it to get back to the cliffhanger part. This story really was that absorbing and just as one question resolved itself another more major plot line would reveal itself. As Lucy battles with her emotions it's clear she needs to make a decision, hide or face the world and accept what has happened. So when an opportunity presents itself in Italy to look after the house of a reclusive woman Lucy jumps at the chance, little does she know instead of finding peace and solitude in order to reach acceptance instead waiting for her are mystery and secrets galore.

In the earlier half of the book in the chapters from Vivien's viewpoint we get to know a little bit more about her back story. Slowly piece by piece the author builds a picture of a woman who has had a rough childhood at the hands of her father, zealous minister Gilbert, and how she ran away to seek her fame and fortune in order to bury painful memories of a cruel and spiteful man. I did initially think this will be the usual Hollywood starlet storyline of making it big against all the odds and meeting and dumping plenty of men along the way. I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm glad Vivien's career wasn't the sole focus as it really allowed the author to spread her wings and run riot with the crazy, foreboding feelings that pervaded for the majority of the book. Vivien is a woman who takes control of her life but the one thing she lacks and deeply longs for is love and through an accident she meets charming Doctor Gio Moretti and falls head over heels. I totally got what Vivien saw in Gio. He was the polar opposite to everything she had experienced when it came to male figures in her life and she wanted to be protected and loved unconditionally. So much so that she would do whatever he wanted even if it meant a third person enters their relationship. That is in the form of his sister Isabella who had been rendered mute by a traumatic incident in her childhood. I could see Vivien desperately wanted comfort, love and security and was delighted when that came in the form of marriage but similar to Lucy little did she know the path that awaited her.

Isabella was a complex character for whom communication was an issue but thanks to the brilliant writing of Victoria Fox she came alive on the page and none more so than when Gio and Vivien move to Italy so he can engage in research. The book really got going then and as connections are established between the castillo Lucy finds herself working in and the story of Vivien's life in Italy. In both story lines the castillo becomes like a character all of its own and is witness to many strange and evil things. Lucy soon forgot what was going back at home (to be honest I felt she got herself into a hole of her own making and should have been wiser) as she tried to understand and uncover the castillo's secrets and the mysterious signora whom she never meets as the maid keeps her away.

I think I preferred Vivien to Lucy, not that I hated Lucy, it's just her story was slightly stronger and made for real edge of your seat stuff. As Vivien settles down to what she hopes will be a blissful life in Italy it soon becomes apparent the villa is not all that idyllic and although one character may present a certain front to the outside world beneath it all there is a lot more going on. There are so many adjectives that could be used to describe said character – manipulative, cruel, evil, crazy, creepy and hateful are just a few. At times I couldn't believe what I was reading and wanted just to shake someone and say come on open your eyes, see what is in front of you. How can you doubt one person over another? As the chapters flew by and my impatience for the big reveal grew the overwhelming sense of mystery, darkness and menace just grew and grew and I couldn't help thinking this really is very different to anything I have read by this author before but my god I'm loving the rising tension and the crafty twists and turns.

My only hope the further I read and as certain things were revealed was that when the big outcome came would it all prove to be a big let down? Where could the story possibly go as Lucy herself feels the sense of sadness and horror emanating from the castle? I would have been bitterly disappointed given how brilliantly the characters had been drawn and how the setting and back story created only to not have that gasp out loud moment of shock when the ultimate reveal came. Thankfully I wasn't one bit disappointed. I had grasped at the hints dropped throughout the story but was never fully able to bring them all together and was pleased with the overall outcome.

Victoria Fox has written a brilliant story that takes you on a journey that is at times very sinister yet at others there are moments of tenderness. As soon as you start reading you will become oblivious to everything around you and find your heart in your mouth more than once as the intrigue and suspicion levels ramp themselves up a gear. To discover does Lucy unearth the secrets so long hidden in the castillo I suggest you get this book as soon as possible. It's a real page turner and definitely one for the keeper shelf.

Lucy needs to get out of London fast - the papers haven't caught up with her yet but when the news of her affair breaks she doesn't want to be around and so when the opportunity of a job as a housekeeper comes up in the Castilla Barbarossa in the Tuscany hills comes up she jumps at the chance to escape and nurse her broken heart well out of the limelight. The house she eventually finds out belongs to the actress Vivian Lockhart but she is a total recluse - fiercely guarded by her maid and she doesn't get the chance to even meet her

Vivien's story starts in 1976 with and an abusive father who makes her run away from home at 16 and she ends up in Hollywood where after a couple of years she gets her big break. With too much of the high life and definitely too much alcohol and drugs she meets Gio - the love of her life and willingly give up everything to marry him and move to Italy - but there is one fly in the ointment his sister Isabella - the beautiful and damaged woman that has such a hold on his life

Going backwards and forwards in time we learn of the struggle of power between the two women - there was definitely 3 in that marriage! - but is Isabella as destructive as she seems or is Vivien paranoid and always thinking the worst?

A great story with lots of twists and turns - very compelling reading that I couldn't put down until I had finished it

A great book as usual from this author but this one is not as steamy as what we have come to expect. A story of similar parallel love that don't have the standard happy endings; an interesting take and one well worth a read.

Absolutely loved this book. Would definitely recommend to fans of kate morton and lucinda riley. There are many books around that flit between past and present and it is easy for one era to not capture the reader as much as the other yet this book holds your attention all the way through. Both Vivien and Lucy's stories fascinating and full of suspense that you want to keep reading ro know what happens.
This is definitely a book that you can't put down but that you never want it to end.

Spooky, spine-tingling and scintillating, The Silent Fountain is a spellbinding page-turner packed with intrigue, secrets, passion and deception guaranteed to keep readers in thrall!

Lucy Whittaker needs to disappear – fast! With the whole of London looking for her after a shocking turn of events, Lucy needs to flee from the British capital and seek sanctuary somewhere where nobody knows who she is. With the terrible sense of shame hanging heavily upon her shoulders, Lucy needs an escape from her life. She needs to go somewhere where nobody knows what she has done and the crumbling Tuscan palazzo Castillo Barbarossa seems like the perfect place to hide in. However, Lucy quickly realises that her new home is not the safe house she imagined, for the walls and corridors of the Castillo Barbarossa reverberate with their own shameful secrets and dangerous lies…

In 1975, film star Vivien Lockhart’s life was as far removed from the Hollywood idyll as it was possible to get. When tragedy had sent her spiraling down a path of melancholy and despair, she had sought comfort in the arms of Giovanni Moretti. But just when Vivien had finally thought that the happiness which had previously eluded her was finally within her reach, secrets from her new husband’s past look set to threaten and destroy everything which she holds dear to her heart.

The Castillo Barbarossa is not the idyllic paradise which both women had imagined and across the decades, Lucy and Vivien, find themselves inextricably linked by this Tuscan paradise. Entangled in a web of obsession, deception and betrayal, Lucy and Vivien are shackled by the palazzo’s scandalous secrets and it is only if they unearth the cruel lies and devastating duplicity that holds them both captive can the two women ever be free from the curse of the Castillo Barbarossa.

Victoria Fox has written a stunning and mesmerizing gothic chiller that kept me riveted from beginning to end. The pages just seem to turn themselves when reading this enthralling and captivating tale of illicit desire, forbidden passion, searing emotion and nail-biting suspense and I found myself unable to put the book down. I was up until three o’clock in the morning, on the edge of my seat, desperate to find out what what was going to happen next as I was gripped by this ingenious and engrossing tale fans of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca will simply adore.

Wonderfully written, full of twists and turns and difficult to resist, The Silent Fountain is a book that will linger in your mind long after the last page is turned. Brava, Victoria Fox – I can’t wait for your next book!

Lucy needs to get out of London fast, she’s involved with a married man and needs to disappear for a while. She finds herself in a castillo in Italy looking after aging Hollywood actress Vivien Lockhart.
Vivien’s story begins in America in 1976 when she meets Gio, an Italian doctor and his mute sister Isabella, Gio asks Vivien to marry him and move to Italy. Vivien doesn’t trust Gio’s sister Isabella who she thinks she is manipulative and dangerous. Gio wants Vivien to give Isabella a chance because she had a traumatic childhood. The story follows how Isabella tries to undermine Vivien at every turn and how Gio sides with his sister instead of Vivien until a terrible tragedy occurs.
Vivien has become a recluse and Lucy needs to help her overcome the secrets of the past for them both to move on with their lives.
The story was slow to start but picked up quickly, it was intriguing and heartbreaking with several twists. It was an excellent read which I would highly recommend. Looking forward to the next book from this author.

Sitting here open mouthed in wonderment, but equally speechless with just how much I completely adored this book.

I read the first 3 chapters when I had a short bit of time, and then spent the next few hours thinking about how the book would progress, which showed me just how much it was under my skin instantly. I had many questions just from the beginning and over the course of the book I did get all the answers.

My next stint of reading too me to about 75%, where I incredibly reluctantly put the book down, only because it was 2.30am, and I figured I should probably go to bed. I just had to keep on turning the pages, and kept gasping in shock, as various elements were revealed, or turns in the story occurred.

Of course I read the last bit in one sitting too, so the book was basically unputdownable for me, and whenever I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about the characters.

The Silent Fountain is a remarkably different book from Victoria Fox, who is more known for her big bonkbuster summery novels. This story however has far deeper veins running through it, and tells two different stories alongside each other.

One starts in the 1970s, and is the story of Vivien Lockhart's life, from her early childhood, and through her marriage, and issues with her sister-in-law. The other story is set in present day Tuscany, and all you know to begin with is that Lucy Whittaker is needing an escape from the UK, and from something terrible that she has done.

I found both stories equally engaging and I just wanted to know more and more about Vivien especially, and her life. There is always a chapter heading when you are getting the past so it was easy to tell who or what you were following at any time. We also see a small amount of what Vivien is like in the present day, and large amounts of her story are heartbreaking.

The Silent Fountain is a story that edged under my skin, leaving it on my mind even when I wasn't reading. I found it atmospheric, full of details, and loved reading about the Castillo Barbarossa and the secrets within its walls. I am also incredibly impressed by the change of style from Victoria Fox, and shows she is an even more talented author than I may have first thought. Not really sure how to describe the sort of book this is, other than if you like books that seep into your conscious, like a bit of mystery and drama, then this could be the book for you!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ for this copy of the book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.