Nectar (Paperback)

By the author of La Cucina, a new novel set in Italy about a servant girl whose bewitching aroma drives men who inhale it into an erotic frenzy.

Ramona Drottoveo, an albino with unusual looks, is a chambermaid at a lush Italian country estate. Distinguished by an intoxicating scent, Ramona is despised by all women and worshipped by all men, whose inexhaustible lust she eagerly satisfies.

But Ramona’s life changes forever when she marries a sweet beekeeper who dies after discovering his bride with a new lover on their wedding day. The superstitious villagers blame Ramona when his body mysteriously disappears and exile the couple from the estate. The story follows Ramona’s tragicomic misadventures in the neighbouring city of Naples, where her life is transformed once again by the birth of an unwanted daughter, Blandina.

A hilarious and naughty celebration of the senses and the strange places they can lead us, Nectar explores, with a touch of magical realism, the mystery of sexual attraction, the instinct to survive and the frivolous nature of divine justice.