When I first picked up Megan Chance’s Inamorata I was struck by how few reviewers placed it into a genre and how few details they provided of the plot. Now that I have read it, I think those reviewers feared doing the novel a disservice by pinning it down. Its prose reads as a literary work. Much of it feels like historical fiction, immediately drawing the reader in to late 19th century Venice. Each character is unique and fully developed. The setting is a time and place from the real world, but elements of fantasy and horror fit seamlessly inside it. In that way, it reminds me of Anne Rice’s early vampire novels.
Sophie and her talented twin brother, Joseph, move to Venice to escape scandal in their native New York. Hoping to attract a patron for Joseph’s paintings, they quickly acquaint themselves with high society Venice. Joseph’s art intrigues several important persons, but none so dangerous, or tempting, as Odilé Leon. This courtesan holds a terrible secret, and, while she can absolutely give the fame she promises, it will come at a terrible price. For a demon lives beneath Ms Leon’s skin, and it feeds off creative energies. Though her victims create the best work of their lives under her instruction, the demon ensures it will be their last. The twins, however, hide secrets of their own, and if Nicholas Dane, a man who has had his own near miss with Odilé, can convince them of their danger, there may yet be a way to end the demon’s cycle.
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