Everything was a puzzle, everything a trap set to mystify and hinder me. . .Winter 1899, and strange things are afoot. As the new century approaches, English hack writer Evelyn Dolman marries Laura Rensselaer, the daughter of a wealthy American plutocrat. But in the midst of a rift between Laura and her father, Evelyn's plans for a substantial inheritance look to be dashed.

Arriving in Venice for their belated honeymoon at Palazzo Dioscuri - the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo - the couple are met by a series of seeminglyotherworldly occurrences, which exacerbate Evelyn's already frayed nerves. Is it just the sea mist blanketing the floating city, or is he really losing his mind?

'A marvellous and rewarding novelist . . . He is a magician, really.' THE SCOTSMAN

'Banville has a grim gift of seeing people's souls.' DON DeLILLO

'The most eminent innovator in Irish fiction of the last 50 years.' IRISH TIMES

'One of my favourite writers alive.' REBECCA F. KUANG

'Banville writes prose of such luscious elegance.' NEW YORK TIMES