Villa Pacifica - Tapa blanda

Like Isabel Allende... Kassabova has a gift for measured, eloquent, no-frills storytelling. * Scotland on Sunday * Like her poetry and memoir, Kassabova's fiction is taut and evocative. Her writing conveys the dichotomy between the country's lush beauty and the hotel's foreboding atmosphere. ... Inspired by the landscape of Ecuador as well as the end of a personal relationship, Kassabova's latest novel is a commentary on human strength. Elegant prose and unusual plot lines will intrigue the reader to the finish. * Herald Scotland * This is a wonderfully intriguing story about relationship dynamics, our innermost fears, and a Lost-type plot that keeps building momentum with every page * The Scottish Review of Books * Intelligent, psychologically compelling... a truly mesmerising read. * The Scotsman * Kassabova conjures up a convincing portrait of a tropical backwater battered by politics and weather... with a deliciously unexpected ending. * The Guardian * Reminiscent of Maugham's Borneo Stories and Bowles' The Sheltering Sky... ultimately however, concerned with individual relationships. * Times Literary Supplement * Kapka Kassabova's excellent Villa Pacifica... well-written, psychologically intriguing with an exotic setting and a mystery plot. * The Guardian * A remote South American hotel, an assortment of weird guests, a strange sense of time repeating itself, plus odd noises in the nights and loved ones behaving oddly: what's not to like about this highly beguiling and mysterious tale about a young female travel writer who stumbles into another world. -- Lesley McDowell * Herald on Sunday * Seductive and unsettling, the tropical world of Villa Pacifica has a primal howl at its core that echoes long after reading. -- Mary McCallum

As Ute and her husband Jerry travel to a remote area on the west coast of South America, they decide to visit an off-the-map eco-retreat called Villa Pacifica. The resort, run by eccentric expatriates, offers a luxuriant refuge - in the middle of an arid and poverty-stricken region - to an exotic menagerie of wild animals rescued from traffickers. But in the eyes of the troubled Ute all is not as it seems, and when a huge storm descends on the coast, travellers and locals are left to fend for themselves. The hot-house world that teems below the surface of Villa Pacifica rises to engulf everyone. Personalities and relationships begin to crack, and madness starts to take hold. Brilliantly written, magically atmospheric, Villa Pacifica will leave a lasting impression in the minds of its readers.