A suspenseful, gothic novel set in 1960s Italy. Silvia is a struggling actress who moves to Rome with her young daughter and ailing mother when she lands a small part in a film. The movie production folds before it even begins and Silvia's desperation leads her to seek out her estranged aunt who lives in a crumbling castle in a nearby tiny village. The castle is soon scouted as the location for an upcoming horror film in which Silvia is cast the lead role. As the filming begins, so do disturbing, strange occurrences, including the mysterious disappearance of her aunt.

The novel was a little slow on the onset, but an engaging read thereafter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me in exchange of my honest review.

This is a book that I thought I would enjoy based on the cover and the description. However, when reading this book, the story unfortunately fell flat. With that being said, I am open to reading this book again in the future, with the hope that it might be a better experience.

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Silvia needs work. Her mother is sick, her daughter is growing, and the small parts she’s been getting in American movies are not paying the bills. Things seem to be looking up when her little family relocates to Italy, her mother’s birthplace, for a new role, but production shuts down almost immediately. Determined to provide for herself and her family, she convinces her estranged aunt to offer her crumbling castello to a movie studio for a new movie. When her aunt goes missing and weird things start happening, Silvia enlists new friends to help. Recommended for fans of Do Tell and old Hollywood.

This one was a different type of historical fiction for me. I was drawn to it because the blurb mentioned some great authors that I’ve read, Kate Morton and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Silvia and her sick mother end up in Italy because Silvia is given a movie role in a horror film. When the movie is looking for somewhere to film, they end up at the Castello owned by Silvia’s aunt, a woman she’s never met. During filming, Silvia’s aunt disappears, and Silvia is convinced there’s something sinister afoot.

I enjoyed the family drama part of this story. Silvia’s mom refused to speak to her aunt because of her aunt’s alliances during WWII. I needed to know the whole story as to why there was so much hatred there.

I enjoyed Patricia’s narration of this story. She portrays the actors well and defines the characters clearly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for my ARC of this book.

This book was atmospheric and had a gothic feel to it. I loved the plot and the setting. There is romance, mystery, family drama, suspense, and some secrets. It was an engaging read.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book. Initially, I found it slow and almost gave up on it. Thank heavens I didn't because I would have missed out on something great. An old, decrepit castle, an eerie atmosphere, an old recluse, family secrets, a rising star about to get her big break, a love story, and a horror movie. What more can you ask for? I love the writing and the pacing.

I love a historical mystery mixed with romance and this debut is a great one. It's atmospheric and suspenseful, and the glamorous world of movie-making in Italy makes it the perfect vacation read. You won't be able to put this one down.

Thanks to Kensington Books for the copy to review.

The Woman in the Castello is a fascinating historical fiction story that is full of intrigue and mystery. I found this to be a highly entertaining novel and really had a great time reading about Silvia's experiences. I really enjoyed getting to explore the setting of Rome and the castle as she seeks out her aunt. There's a very spooky vibe that I enjoyed, although I do think that there was something slightly lacking in the general buildup of the atmosphere. Still, I enjoyed the gothic vibes and everything that came with that. There are tons of secrets and things to explore in this book and I appreciated how well the author crafted the characters, creating well-developed characters that had great dimension to them and helped flesh out the story. Overall, a worthwhile read for any historical fiction fan!

This was an amazingly atmospheric creation. I was transported to 1960s Italy and the aftermath of World War II. This novel is extremely cinematic, and I felt like I was watching a movie as much as reading a book. Highly recommend!

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

The Woman in the Castello by Kelsey James is a newly-released slow-build mystery/horror story set in Italy a generation after WWII.

Silvia Whitford is an Italian-American actress desperately in need of a break. An unwed mother with a two-year-old, she is also supporting her mother who is slowly dying of cancer. In order to allow her mother to die back in Italy, Silvia must make her way in a country she has never really known.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, her mother has an estranged sister who lives in a crumbling castle. An Italian production company in need of a castle in which to set their horror film hires Silvia to be the star–and to secure permission to use her aunt’s castle.

At first, it seems like a dream come true. Her co-star is a long-admired handsome film star. The supporting actress is eager to be Silvia’s friend. And the show’s “fixer,” a man named Paul, is gorgeous, kind, strong, and interested in a relationship.

Unfortunately, everything quickly goes wrong. The castle is reputed to be haunted. And strange happenings seem to bear out its reputation. Silvia’s aunt disappears and Silvia fears she has been murdered. The director is a bully. Her co-star is a sexist pig. And even her new friend is not entirely trustworthy. When Silvia starts to doubt Paul, she begins to question if it really is everyone else in the wrong or if she is imagining things.

The stakes rise as accidents threaten the production and no one takes Silvia’s concerns seriously. Is the castle truly haunted? Or is one of her coworkers a murderer?

This atmospheric novel is a bit slow-paced for a thriller and the love story, to me, seemed a bit banal, but I did love the setting. There is also an intergenerational family drama twist. And fascists. Maybe the novel was trying to be too many things at once, but I wasn’t as drawn in as I expected to be. I’d be interested in what fans of gothic horror think, since it mostly seems to be a ghost story in the setting of a horror movie.

Engaging mystery set in a captivating Italian castle where everyone is keeping secrets and all have a reason to protect them at any cost. Entertaining g and enjoyable mystery with a good twist at the end. Very fun read!

This was an entertaining book, but I have to admit it took me A WHILE to get into it. I was still wondering if I should finish it by the time I hit the 50% mark. But after that it really picked up and made the book worth it.

This is about Silvia, who is an aspiring actress and moves her daughter and mother to Italy in a last ditch effort at success. She gets cast in a horror movie which is to be filmed at her aunt’s castle, and has some creepy/gothic vibes.

I’ll admit I didn’t see the twist coming, but I feel like the premise had so much potential, yet the writing left me desiring for more ambiance, more feeling, more motives, just more.

A nice, light historical fiction with a bit of mystery and a killer twist, count me in 🙌

Silvia is a struggling actress who lands the role of a lifetime, starring in a horror film in Italy. It's 1965 and life isn't easy being a single mom, whose own mother has fallen ill, until she catches her big break. The movie is being shot at a crumbling old castle, which just happens to be owned by Silvia's estranged aunt … who vanishes shortly after the crew arrives. The perfect setting for a perfect little mystery.

The Woman In The Castello was exactly the book I needed right now. It's quickly paced, well written, a mystery that just kinda quietly sneaks up on you, and an ending that kicked my ass. I really thought this was going to be a "standard mystery" and my god was I wrong 🫣😂

I'd recommend this one to those looking for a decent mystery without a ton of gore and lovers of light historical fiction ❤️ a wonderful read. Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Publishing and Kelsey James for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This historical fiction novel, set in the 1960s in a castle in an Italian hill town was a quick trip to Italy for me.
Silvia Whitford is an aspiring actress who travels to Italy with her terminally ill mother and 2 yr old daughter, for a minor role in a movie being filmed in Rome. Hoping that this will be a step into the movie business, she is lost when she finds out that the movie has been canceled. She attempts to find a job in Rome, but is unsuccessful.
Nearly out of money, she approaches her mother's estranged sister, Gabriella, who lives in a castello in a hill town. While there, a movie production team scouting locations for a horror film visits the castle, and decides to use it for their film. Silvia is cast in a starring role (and hopefully makes a step into the movie business), and her mother and daughter come to the town to live there during the shoot.
Soon into the movie, Gabriella disappears and Silvia suspects something sinister has occurred - and that someone on the production crew has something to do with it. However, neither the Carbieneri nor the crew are too concerned with the disappearance, and the production continues.
This book combined historical fiction, movie production, family secrets, suspense, romance, and politics into a quick read, with nicely developed characters and an interesting plot. The castello was creepy enough - and falling down, but the lake and gardens were wonderful and believable.
I thought the romance was predictable, and a little forced, but it did fit into the story. The twist was a surprise (no spoilers here), and I had to reread it to make sure I had read it correctly! I thought it was ingenious!.
I received a copy of this book for free from NetGalley and the publisher and am posting my opinions. This was a fun, atmospheric read.

If you enjoy 1960s Italian cinema, then you will love this book.
The novel is absolutely cinematic in its narrative, with a down-on-her-luck aspiring actress who goes to Italy with her mother and small daughter in tow to audition for a small movie part. When she finds out the project has been cancelled, her hopes turn to despair, knowing that she cannot afford to pay for the hotel much longer.
She gets a second chance when she remembers her mother's estranged sister, who lives in a castle in the outskirts of Rome. As she is getting to know her reclusive and mysterious aunt, she learns that a movie studio plans to make the castle the setting for their next picture.
What seems a perfect opportunity to step into a starring role, turns into a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious stalker who seems hell-bent in terrorizing her. When her aunt suddenly goes, missing the story takes an unsuspecting and shocking turn.

The Woman in the Castello is Gothic novel taking place in Italy in the 1960’s on a movie set.

Sylvia Whitford, her dying mother Elena, and her two year old daughter Lulu have moved to Italy for a movie role for Sylvia. Sylvia’s mother was born and raised in Italy and moved to the US with her American GI husband after the war. Sylvia is a struggling actress and an unwed mother, a condition that is frowned upon in the 1960’s. After the movie she is supposed to be in closes before production starts, Sylvia is at her wit’s end. She does not have the money to keep her mother and daughter and herself afloat. Sylvia decides to look up her aunt Gabriella, a woman that her mother is adamant that she not meet. Gabriella and Elena were estranged after the war, supposedly due to Gabriella, also an actress, having starred in propaganda films. Gabriella it seems lives in a castello outside of Rome. The castello is in a delapidated condition and Gabriella lives there alone with the memories and ghosts of the past, While Silvia is visiting a movie scouting crew shows up, They want to make a horror movie entitled The Revenge of the Lake Witch and since the castello is on a lake, it appears to be an ideal location. On the scouting mission is the assistant director from the failed movie Sylvia was supposed to be in, Paul Rudderman. He suggests Sylvia for the starring role of Bianca in the movie and Sylvia feels her life is looking up again. She moves her mother and daughter into a pensione in the town below the castle since her mother refuses to live in the same house as Gabriella.

Gabriella at first seems to welcome the movie crew, she needs the money and the movie will help with that. Then she disappears, no one is concerned except for Sylvia. The director Herman Meyerson seems to be in Sylvia’s corner which is a relief as the main actor, the famous Terrence Leopold is a total jerk, intent on insulting Sylvia at every turn. Then the accidents start to happen and the weird incidences that could be the work of the ghost (don’t all castles have ghosts?) or is it someone else with malicious intentions? Sylvia finds blood on the terrace, a light falls and almost crushes her, some of the dailies are unusable, there is the sound of a woman crying from her aunt’s bedroom. All add up to make the movie set a very creepy and uneasy place to be.

The ending was a bit of a twist. The romance was well done but subtle and I really liked several of the movie crew, Paul, Lucrezia and Mrs Leskowitz. A suspenseful and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Kensington books and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

Silvia Whitford has a lot riding on her new role: she and her mother have uprooted their LA lives to return to Italy, where Elena was born and raised, so when Silvia learns the movie has been cancelled, she's desperate to find a way to provide for not just herself and her mother, but also her two-year-old daughter, Lulu. In desperation, she seeks out her mother's estranged sister, Gabriella Conti, who lives in a crumbling castle in a strange little town outside Rome.

Then, everything seems to fall into place. Silvia is recast in a starring role in a new movie to be shot at her aunt's castle. Of course, her mother refuses to stay there, which is probably for the best because Silvia hasn't really publicized the fact she's a young mother.

But then Gabriella disappears and nobody seems to care, not even the local police. And the movie set is plagued by strange happenings, not to mention an egotistical, drunken leading man. Set in 1960s Italy, this novel explores family and human relationships, particularly in the postwar period. Part family saga, part romance, part horror, all delectable. #TheWomanintheCastello #NetGalley

Silvia Whitford is a broke single mother who is depending on the opportunity of acting in a horror film at an Italian castle to support her family. Everything changes when Silvia’s whole world is disrupted by the strange things happening around her and her estranged aunt going missing.

This is a fantastic work of historical fiction that includes the perfect combination of family drama, romance, suspense, and gothic vibes. I loved the time and setting of this book and how the author uses bits and pieces of Sylvia’s life and the movie to help build suspense and thicken the plot. At first, Sylvia comes off as immature and impulsive, but the author does a great job of developing her character and making her easy to love and root for.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Family secrets, mystery and a big creepy castle in Italy - count me in as loving this one! I'm not sure which part I loved best - the setting of Italy, the medieval castle, the whodunit, the love story, the family secrets, the actors/actresses in the scary witch movie being shot in the old castle and if they were good vs. evil, the single mom who loved her baby and mother so much - all of it kept me wanting to read more to find out just what happens to all of them and what in the world happened between the two sisters that was so awful! I really enjoyed this story. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book, I give it 4.5 stars.

When Sylvia Whitford and her dying mother move to Rome with her three-year-old daughter it’s because she thought she had a movie roll all set and ready to go but when she gets there she quickly learns the picture has been trashed due to non-funding she decides to take it up on her own to go and visit her Italian aunt who her mom never spoke of and never wanted her to meet Gabrielle conte was an actress in her own time but now lives in a crumbling mansion. While Sylvia is there visiting her aunt movie producer show up with interest to film a movie at her aunts castle in the producer that scratched her previous role promise he will try to get her one in the movie and he does. She actually does so well she gets the leading role but must convince her aunt to allow the crew to stay at her castle while they film when everything is a go in the film crew is bombarding the castle her aunt who already is eccentric and a recluse starts to panic and AX Sylvia to get them to leave when the producer Richard said he will go speak to her it will be the last time Sylvia sees Gabriella. Her aunt going missing isn’t the only strange thing happening at the house even the other actors and actresses say the home has something strange attached to it but Sylvia just wants to enjoy acting in the movie when days go by she finds out things that tell her her aunt really didn’t leave and she even called the hotel where Gabriella was supposed to stay during shooting and they say her aunt hasn’t checked in yet this is when she really starts to worry . Although some of the movie people think Sylvia should just be grateful she has a part in the movie and should she act that way one of the producers Paul who has become very close to Sylvia believes there is something to worry about or at the very least believe what Sylvia is telling him this is the worst review about the best book it truly has a Gothic tale and a story to match the entry is only round up by things that happen will Sylvia get out with her movie career and tech and find out what happened to her aunt or was Harriet truly a victim of foul play all the girls that roam the halls of the crumbling mansion? I want to thank net galley and Kensington books for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.