Siracusa - by Delia Ephron (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An electrifying New York Times bestselling novel about marriage and deceit that follows two couples on vacation in Siracusa, a town on the coast of Sicily, where the secrets they have hidden from one another are exposed and relationships are unraveled.

With her inimitable psychological astuteness and uncanny understanding of the human heart, Ephron delivers a powerful meditation on marriage, friendship, and the meaning of travel. Set on the sun-drenched coast of the Ionian Sea, Siracusa unfolds with the pacing of a psychological thriller and delivers an unexpected final act that none will see coming.

One of People Magazine's Top 10 Books - A Washington Post Bestseller - A Los Angeles Times Bestseller - A USA Today Bestseller - One of Vulture's 100 Greatest Beach Books Ever - A People Magazine Summer Reading Pick - One of Elle, InStyle, and Marie Claire's Best of July - A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2016 (Fiction)

Review Quotes

Praise for Delia Ephron and Siracusa

"[Ephron] excels at [depicting] characters' unintended comedy, their emotional warfare and witty observations of travel and consumption....with a deft, stinging touch. They are a wise reminder that the hungers driving these people are a ravenous, even violent, business."--The New York Times Book Review

"An irresistible novel for fans of psychological thrillers, or those considering vacationing with former lovers and spouses (often one and the same)."--Oprah Magazine

"Sophisticated, elegantly written, delightfully cynical...Ephron's novel has the feel of a classic." --Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

"[A] suspenseful, thoroughly delicious tale. You can almost taste the gelato."--People Magazine

"Siracusa starts innocuously enough, as an ironic travelogue about American sophisticates abroad...The situation begins to resemble a Ford Madox Ford novel, with each narrator recounting and interpreting the same encounters from vastly differing perspectives...As the clues pile up, the coming storm is expertly foreshadowed--but when it arrives, it's utterly surprising."--Kirkus Reviews

"A seductive and edgy dissection of two imploding marriages--and an unhinged mother-daughter alliance . . . Each of these toxic relationships puts the characters on course to careen headlong into a dark place of deceit and rage in Ephron's brilliant takedown of marital and familial pretense."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A master of precise and keen character development, a virtuoso of pacing and surprise, a wizard at skewering convention and expectation, Ephron offers a bewitching take on relationships--marital, parental, casual, and serious--in this read-in-one-sitting, escapist escapade with a message."--Booklist

"The word 'unputdownable' is somewhat overused when describing a good book--but really, I just could not put this book down. Delia Ephron's Siracusa is a dark tale with incredibly well-drawn characters. It reveals the slights and secrets that can bring about chaos among friends and within families, and adds more than a spoonful of evil into the bargain. I stayed up well past my bedtime to finish."--Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs novels

"Delia Ephron's Siracusa is a stunning portrait of two marriages coming unraveled during the stress of travel abroad. Insightful and engaging. A must-read!"--Sue Grafton, author of X

"Siracusa is an Italian aria, a Greek tragedy and a modern American master­piece written by Delia Ephron at the height of her powers. This is a story of two complicated marriages, one vulnerable child, and a trip to Italy that changes each of their lives forever. Secrets, lies, love raging, love dying, and the shame of unrealized potential are exposed in detail under the Sicilian sun. And, like the Moro blood oranges that grow there with abandon, the taste is both sour and sweet at once, but the bitterness that remains is not only haunting but unforgettable."--Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker's Wife

"Siracusa is an unusually crackling, tricky journey into the distant land of other people's marriages: their secrets, paradoxes, weaknesses, and plea­sures. Delia Ephron writes like a warm-blooded Patricia Highsmith, her sto­ry's treachery matched by a deep and easy feel for the various human, imperfect ways that people find themselves bound together, and sometimes painstakingly unbind themselves. An absorbing, tense, and original novel."--Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings

"Siracusa is dazzling. Here is Delia Ephron with a stunning noir tale of mar­riage and morality, as two couples tangled in secret longings and betrayals travel through Italy, along with a gimlet-eyed ten-year-old daughter who could have been created by Henry James. Beware. You will be up all night to finish. I was."--Marie Brenner, author of Apples and Oranges

About the Author

Delia Ephron is a bestselling author and screenwriter. She has written novels, including The Lion Is In and Hanging Up; humor books for all ages, including How to Eat Like a Child and Do I Have to Say Hello?; and nonfiction, most recently Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc.). Her films include You've Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Hanging Up (based on her novel), and Michael. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. Her hit play Love, Loss, and What I Wore (co-written with Nora Ephron) ran for more than two years off-Broadway and has been performed all over the world. She lives in New York City.