The Bequest

by Joanna Margaret

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Joanna Margaret’s debut The Bequest goes on sale in the middle of the college school year. And the timing is PERFECT because we know you’ll be wanting those dark academia feels—an autumn sweater, the conspiratorial whispers of PhD students, and professors wanting us to hunker down in the library “tombs” with this delicious mystery.

Named a "Most Anticipated" October Thriller by Bustle, PopSugar, & CrimeReads 

After her professor’s suspicious death, a PhD student uncovers dark machinations among her academic associates in this "richly atmospheric and irresistibly readable" (Joyce Carol Oates) Gothic mystery set between Scotland, Italy, and France.

Fleeing a disastrous affair with a colleague in Boston, Isabel Henley moves to Scotland to begin a PhD with a renowned feminist professor—only to learn, upon arrival, that her advisor has suffered a deadly fall. Soon after, Isabel is informed that another scholar at the university is about to publish a book on her dissertation topic, leaving her disconcerted and in search of a new subject, all while struggling to acclimate to her new home abroad.

Isabel needs a good friend during such a rocky start, and finds one when she reconnects with Rose Brewster, her charismatic classmate from undergrad. But when Rose confides to Isabel that she is in trouble, and then goes missing, Isabel’s already-unsteady life is sent into a tailspin. A suicide note surfaces, followed by a coded message: Rose is alive but, unless Isabel can complete the research begun before her friend’s disappearance, both women will be killed by her captors. 

As Isabel follows the Rose’s paper trail from Genoa to Florence and, finally, to Paris, she uncovers family secrets, the legend of an enormous cursed emerald, and a chain of betrayal and treason which parallels her own perilous present. If she can put the pieces together soon, she could solve a 400-year-old mystery—and save her and her friend’s lives in the process.

Combining epistolary elements, Gothic suspense, and an atmospheric “dark academia” setting, The Bequest is a gripping literary thriller that will appeal to fans of Alex Michaelides’ The Maidens and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613163450
Publisher:	Penzler Publishers
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	424,985
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Joanna Margaret is an art historian whose previous writing and scholarly work has focused on Florentine aristocrats in sixteenth-century France. She holds a PhD from the University of St. Andrews and an MFA from NYU, where Joyce Carol Oates served as her thesis advisor. The Bequest is her first novel.

Read an Excerpt

She shut her eyes and took a few steps closer to the edge. She didn’t need to run away. Not yet. Cold, loud wind rushed into her ears. A branch snapped, and she felt a presence. Smelling a hint of familiar perfume, she opened her eyes and swiveled around.

“You startled me,” she said, leaning forward, surveying the khaki-colored shrubs, the band of blue-black sea in the distance. Other than a few haggard trees, they were completely alone.

“I’ve been curious about this view.”

She dropped her arms by her sides, and made an effort to lighten the tone of her voice. “Do you like it?”

“Gorgeous. But didn’t you see the forecast? They’re expecting a storm. You should be careful. Everything can change out here. Very, very quickly.”

She looked up at the clouds. They were heavy, full. “I thought a couple of hours in fresh air, disconnected, might clear my mind. And I’m waiting for someone. Should arrive any minute.”

A single laugh. “It’s windy today! You’re too close to the edge. Let’s go somewhere warm where we can talk.” She stood still. “Did you think over what we discussed?”

“Yes.”

“Well?”

“I can’t. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.” Crisp air swished through her hair, slapping it across her face.

“It’s okay. I understand. Did you tell anyone about what you saw?”

She stepped back.

“No one will hurt you, I promise. But I need to know.”

“Of course I didn’t.” A dense fog hovered over them. Soon she wouldn’t be able to see the horizon. She twisted her hair into a bun, and glanced behind her. “You’ll get along with my new student. She’s very accomplished. Brilliant. She can help. With—anything.”

Her scalp itched with chilled sweat. She loosened her wool scarf, and a current of fear coursed over the bare skin on her neck. She understood. It was too late. She lifted her hand to her cheek to still her trembling jaw.

The voice was gentle, consoling. “I only want to talk. There’s no need to be afraid. I care about you, and will respect you, no matter what.”

She stepped closer. “And you know how I feel.”

A wordless struggle, a strong shove.

“Je t’en pris,” she said, on her hands and knees now. “Please. I’m sorry.”

With the second shove, a scrambling of gravel off the ledge, a choked cry melting into waves of wind as her body tumbles down, down, all the way to the rocks.
And then silence. Only some air whooshing through the thin branches of sparse trees, and a crunching of footsteps, slow and unburdened.

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2022

PhD candidate Isabel Henley, the narrator of Margaret’s impressive if flawed debut, follows her older college chum, Rose Brewster, to Scotland’s St. Stephens University, where she learns that the rock-star feminist scholar who was to be her thesis adviser has just died in a hiking accident. Flash forward a few months. Only the occasional outing with Rose or fantasizing about a broodingly handsome young lecturer relieves the lonely Isabel’s immersion in the lives of 16th-century monarch Catherine de’ Medici and her female court. Rose’s subsequent disappearance puts Isabel on the trail of a priceless emerald legend claims was brought from Brazil to Italy by the subject of Rose’s dissertation, Catherine’s courtier Federico Falcone. As Isabel embarks on a high-stakes intellectual treasure hunt that will take her from the Falcone family’s Genoese palazzo to archives in Florence and Paris, the author not only maintains suspense but makes the historical figures come vibrantly alive through their correspondence. Indeed, the contemporary characters pale by comparison, and a couple of key figures swing wildly between winningly seductive and sociopathic, particularly as dictated by the hairpin turns of the far-fetched denouement. Despite such speed bumps, however, readers will eagerly await Margaret’s next. Agent: Jody Kahn, Brandt & Hochman. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A first rate mystery by a first time author. Intriguing plot and well drawn characters."

Martin Cruz Smith

"There are two attractions here: the present-day academic whodunnit and the olden puzzle revealed in Renaissance letters; viewers of the Netflix series 'The Chair' will eat this up, as will readers of Philippa Gregory and Robert J. Lloyd."

First Clues

"Intricately plotted, exquisitely written, and brimming with atmosphere, The Bequest is a brilliant debut, as smart as it is compelling."

Tasha Alexander

"Interlocking mysteries lie at the heart of Joanna Margaret’s richly atmospheric and irresistibly readable debut novel, the harrowing saga of a young American woman historian who finds herself embroiled in a Machiavellian plot reaching back to 16th century Italy. Whether evoking present-day Scotland in a windswept region overlooking the North Sea, or Renaissance Genoa in a time of vertiginous political plotting, The Bequest is filled with unexpected turns and revelations for the reader as well as the historian-heroine."

Joyce Carol Oates

There are two attractions here: the present-day academic whodunnit and the olden puzzle revealed in Renaissance letters; viewers of the Netflix series The Chair will eat this up, as will readers of Philippa Gregory and Robert J. Lloyd.”

First Clue

Whether evoking present-day Scotland in a windswept region overlooking the North Sea, or Renaissance Genoa in a time of vertiginous political plotting, The Bequest is filled with unexpected turns and revelations for the reader as well as the historian-heroine.”

New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates

Intricately plotted, exquisitely written, and brimming with atmosphere, The Bequest is a brilliant debut, as smart as it is compelling.”

author of In the Shadow of Vesuvius Tasha Alexander

A first rate mystery by a first time author. Intriguing plot and well drawn characters.”

New York Times bestselling author Martin Cruz Smith

Kimberly M. Wetherell’s skilled narration creates the perfect backdrop for this dark academic thriller. After a disastrous relationship, American PhD student Isabel heads to Scotland, where she reconnects with an old friend before finding herself at the heart of a series of mysteries old and new. Wetherell’s strong narration, including her exceptional use of accents, is particularly apparent during dialogue scenes involving characters with a wide variety of backgrounds. Wetherell seamlessly shifts among American, Scottish, and Italian accents, as well as covering a range of English accents. Her strong characterizations and spot-on timing help to keep the listener engaged. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

2022-09-14
Trying to save an endangered friend, a young American historian rushes around Europe trying to uncover a link between the court of Catherine de’ Medici and a priceless emerald from the New World.

Isabel Henley leaps at the chance to continue her historical studies by joining the graduate program at St. Stephens in Scotland, far away from her estranged family and her married professor/lover in Boston. She’s also eager to study with Madeleine Grangier, “French feminist extraordinaire,” and reconnect with Rose Brewster, the “beautiful wunderkind” who set the bar for Isabel in college in both scholarship and social success. But when she arrives, she learns that Madeleine has just died in a fall, and while it’s been written off as an accident, there are some who find her death suspicious. Isabel throws herself into the challenges of research—her topic is the women of Catherine de’ Medici’s court—and breaking into the department’s social hierarchy. Rose welcomes her with open arms, and she finds herself drawn romantically to another professor. Then Rose goes missing, and a suicide note is discovered. Weeks later, Isabel finds a hidden recording from Rose that reports she is being held against her will and urges Isabel to take over her research into a little-known Renaissance-era Italian family that may have been the owners of a priceless emerald, current whereabouts unknown. This research takes Isabel to Genoa, Florence, and Paris, always with the sense that Rose’s captors are breathing down her neck as she works desperately to uncover the mystery of the Falcone family and the emerald, unsure of whom to trust. There’s an academic bent to the mystery; this one will appeal to lovers of Dan Brown and Elizabeth Kostova and other mysteries of old documents and historical figures.

For lovers of history mysteries: a less robust Da Vinci Code, less complex The Swan Thieves.

Kirkus Reviews