House of Many Rooms

Book excerpt: The Florio family, a rich society couple with two beautiful adopted daughters, is hiding dark secrets beneath a facade of love and care. But the fabric of the family is slowly unraveling under the weight of Barbara Florio's chronic drinking and drug abuse as well as the youngest daughter's penchant for arson. After the divorce of Michael and Barbara Florio, Therese's psychological problems escalate and when she sets fire to her expensive collection of dolls, it seems an eerie prophecy of the fire that soon after takes her drugged and unconscious mother. Under the suspicion that his daughter has indeed killed her mother, Michael Florio whisks both Therese and her older sister, Devon, away to his remote country house in the Italian province of Umbria. But one woman is determined to help Therese overcome her psychological problems and uncover the truth: her biological mother, Rebecca will stop at nothing to extricate Therese from what she views as a dangerous situation. Rebecca infiltrates the Florio family, posing as a nanny in search of work, and then finds herself passionately drawn to Michael Florio. But as Rebecca grows more and more attracted to Michael, Devon begins to act out. And Rebecca begins to wonder if Michael Florio is a master of mind-control and his two daughters pawns in his sinister games. Taking her daughter, Rebecca flees and turns to the only person who may be able to help: Therese's biological father, Ryan Foster, who is practicing medicine in a remote Mexican town and whom she hasn't seen in years. But Michael Florio refuses to simply let Therese disappear from the Florio family. He follows the fugitives to Foster's house where Rebecca must finally decide whether her passion for Michael has blinded her to the truth about him.