Novel set mainly in ABRUZZO

14th July 2026

Dark is the Morning by Rupert Thomson, novel set in ABRUZZO.

The author is one of David Bowie’s favourite authors, apparently, a very much under-the-radar writer. I have read a couple of his novels in the past and was fondly transported via curious, imaginative and in many ways alluring stories to the chosen setting. This time the locale is Abruzzo – “.. the region characterised by a deep affinity with magic and superstition…”

Gino is a young and troubled young man. The story opens in his earlier years when he is still at school, followed by mention of a short period of psychiatric hospitalisation. Short interactions with his father underpin a dysfunctional relationship, some violence and a general undermining attitude by the parent to his child.

Buy Now

Franca has been in his orbit since childhood and finally they decide to get married, she affirming that he is the one for her. However, once he discovers that she had a previous boyfriend – whom he unwisely confronts – he struggles to fight his obsession with the intimacies they must have shared. Once Gino and Franca have had a child, a beautifully unifying moment, his focus becomes unswerving and, as a reader, one observes his mental machinations which ultimately take him down a dark path.

Harry is British and lives much of the year in the village and the two men have a friendly relationship. He is older and tries offer his younger friend perspective and balance, but Gino’s emotional trajectory is set. Towards the end of the novel, Harry has a rather lame conversations with Franca about whether she can reframe her feelings towards her husband but she, quite rightly, firmly puts him right.

It is indeed a haunting story, a peak into local lives and small communities, with a sense of foreboding and inevitability, which of course keeps the tension at a good level.

It is fashionable at the moment to produce a book without speech marks, which sometimes makes for a fractured read. I am not a fan because occasionally a re-read is necessary to fully understand what is going on.

Setting is beautifully rendered – as you would expect with this author – with great attention to detail as the story makes its leisurely way to its conclusion. I feel I have been to Abruzzo, with a tremendous side trip to Nemi, with all the folkloric tales surrounding that small town – the stories of Caligula and the culture around the abundant wild strawberries grown in the area.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

Buy Now

Join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction) and BlueSky(tripfiction.bsky.social) and Threads (@tripfiction)

Subscribe to future blog posts