I really enjoyed this book. I loved the descriptions of the island. You really feel like you're right there with the characters. Honestly, this book gave me some serious wanderlust for Sicily! The prose was gorgeous and drew me in right from the first chapter. I fell in love with the characters and really enjoyed exploring their four-generation family saga. I definitely see myself re-reading this book at some point and I'll be on the lookout for the author's other works.

The House at the Edge of Night was the first book I read in 2018, and I am happy to say that 2018 started off with a bang!

Set on the island of Castellamare off the coast of Italy, The House at the Edge of Night is a multigenerational family saga that follows the Esposito family over the span of the 20th century. Castellamare is a remote island with a sparse population. Needless to say, this book is very much about small island living & all the drama that it entails. We watch the islanders survive life of the island through two world wars, the threat of fascism, recessions, births, deaths, marriages, heartbreaks, and miracles. The House at the Edge of Night covers themes like loss, forgiveness, scandal, friendship, rivalries, family and love.

One of the drawbacks of multigenerational family sagas is often that the character development suffers as the different descendants come to the forefront of the story. I would like to ease your fears that this is not a problem in this book. The story first follows Amedeo as the main character, then eventually the story goes down the line of his descendants from children, to grandchildren, to great-grandchildren. I always felt connected & invested in each of the characters as the story shifts to follow a different descendant.

If you enjoy books where the setting is a big part of the book, this book is for you! Not only do we get beautiful descriptions of the island of Castellamare, but we also get to see the family home/business as a central part of the book. The House at the Edge of Night, the local “watering hole,” was the heart of the island. People from all over the island came there to eat, drink, celebrate, and to pass the time. It really was almost like a character in the book. We watch the running of the bar pass down from generation to generation and see all the ups and downs the come along with running a family business. It was also interesting to see the progression of the island community throughout the course of the century. Since Castellamare is a remote island, technology was slow to arrive on the island. We get to see technological advances like the motor bikes, television, and even the first computer come to the island. Life on Castellamare is not always the paradise you’d imagine though, we also get to see the financial struggles of the community & how they needed to adapt to transitioning into a tourist destination to save the economy on the island.

Culture, folklore, and superstition are prevalent elements in The House at the Edge of Night. From the yearly festival of Sant’Agata – the unofficial patron saint of the island – where the locals host a celebration & heave a heavy statue of Sant’Agata around the coast of the island, to Amedeo keeping a record of the folklore & stories of the island passed down from local to local, I was completely enamored with this story. This book was heavily inspired by Sicilian & Italian folklore, and I could really sense that Banner has a fascination in this area.

The House at the Edge of Night is a gem of a book. I wish it had received more attention when it came out in 2016. It breaks my heart that it has under 5,000 ratings on Goodreads. I’m wondering if the original cover has anything to do with it? I personally like it, HOWEVER I could see where it could put some readers off.

*Big thanks to Random House for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

wonderful family saga that deserves a wider readership! Banner has written a terrific plot driven novel that is also character rich. Casellamare is a great setting, a place I'd very much like to visit. Reading this book was very much like being part of the family. How each member of the Esposito family reacts to all the changes in their world felt so real. I especially appreciated the insight into modern Italian history- I learned a bit while enjoying the book. THanks to NEtgalley for the ARC. My review is long overdue but this is definitely one you should pick up for the summer.

Set on a small island in the south of Italy, this is a delightful story of love, family and magic. While I did find the story to be charming, it did drag on at times. Nonetheless, this was a light enjoyable read.

The story and writing were fabulous. This just wasn't my cup of tea.