The Savage Garden

    'Montalto,' he said quietly.

    It was a direct translation.

    Fulvio Montalto, the young architect of Villa Docci. No wonder he had disappeared from the historical record. Federico Docci had made sure of that.

    The circle was complete. And so was Flora. This final revelation, this last piece of the puzzle, somehow rounded her off, made her whole. Because it allowed her love to live again. Stopping to gaze up at her as he left the garden, he saw it burning in her eyes, just as Fulvio's love for her still smoldered in the effortless beauty of the villa he had designed for her.

    No doubt there was more of their story yet to be uncovered, maybe even a record of Fulvio's death buried away in some dusty archive. But her job was done. She had handed him the baton. It was up to him what he did with it now.

    Threading his way back up the overgrown path to the villa, he cast his thoughts back to that sunstruck May day in Cambridge— where it had all begun—and asked himself whether he would have done anything differently, knowing what he now did.

    It was not a question easily answered.

    He barely recognized himself in the carefree young man cycling along the towpath beside the river, bucking over the ruts, the bottle of wine dancing around in the bike basket.

    Try as he might, he couldn't penetrate the workings of that stranger's mind, let alone say with any certainty how he would have dealt with the news that murder lay in wait for him, just around the corner.

READERS GUIDE

 

The Savage Garden

by Mark Mills

    Did you find the map at the beginning of the novel helpful? If so, would you have preferred a map of Italy as well? Or, perhaps, sketches of the statues and the mythological scenarios the book describes?

    Do you think Harry's character exists only for comic relief, or does he offer some insight and depth to the storyline of a novel? Discuss how other minor characters—such as Maria the maid or Adam's innkeeper in the city —serve as foils for the main characters.

    What mystery story devices—from foreshadowing to red herrings—does Mills employ, and in what instances, to sustain suspense?

    Adam and Antonella first take a tour of the garden in Chapter 8. Mills describes the temple that they encounter: 'The building was dedicated to Echo, the unfortunate nymph who fell hard forNarcissus. He, too preoccupied with his own beauty, spurned her attentions, whereupon Echo, heartbroken, faded away until only her voice remained.' This scenario seems to metaphorically describe Adam and Antonella's relationship at the end of the novel: Adam too preoccupied with solving the mystery, and she heartbroken and speechless with only a letter in hand. In what ways does the author utilize this paralleling with his other characters and mythological creatures? Do you think it's necessary to come to The Savage Garden with a thorough knowledge of Roman mythology and having read classic texts such as Dante's The Divine Comedy and Machiavelli's Il Principe? Why or why not?

    Discuss what elements of The Savage Garden carry echoes of William Shakespeare's writing and the themes, language and characters of his plays. Does the novel read almost like a play script, with its extensive use of dialogue?

    An undercurrent of licentious sexual behavior runs throughout the novel. Discuss how the biblical garden as metaphor permeates the book.

    History, specifically the history of World War II and other major battles, has a strong presence throughout the novel. Discuss how including these conflicts affects the novel as a whole. What was the state of the country, culture and people of Italy in 1958, still only recently removed from the destructive end of World War II? Could the author have set The Savage Garden in another time period without losing the effect and world he creates? Writing from a distance of nearly fifty years, how does Mills establish a sense of verisimilitude that his characters are operating and interacting in a specific historical era?

    Toward the end of Francesca's letter to Adam she writes, 'I meant what I said to you just before we sat down to dinner at the party. I asked you then to remember my words. Do you? I hope so, because they are as true as any I have ever spoken.' What exactly were Francesca's words?

    The author touches upon the theme of closure numerous times throughout the novel—from a three- hundred-year-old murder to the death of Emilio to Adam's father's infidelity. How important is closure within the frame of the book's world? Were you satisfied with the novel's ending? Why or why not?

    Discuss Professor Leonard's possible various motivations for sending Adam to Italy, besides those he openly states. Do you feel the professor knows he's sending Adam into what amounts to a viper's nest? Does the professor see Adam as a surrogate son?

    Do you feel there is a deeper meaning behind the revelation that Emilio is Professor Leonard's son? Or do you think perhaps the author has included this as simply another issue for the characters to overcome?

About the Author

    Mark Mills is a screenwriter whose first novel, Amagansett, was published in a dozen countries and received the British Crime Writers' Association John Creasy Memorial Dagger Award. A graduate of Cambridge, he lives in Oxford with his wife and two children.