Diavola

Diavola is a Gothic horror novel by the American novelist Jennifer Thorne. It was published in 2024. Set largely in a villa in Italy, the novel satirizes and critiques the idea of a happy family vacation by drawing on Gothic tropes and the threat of the supernatural. It explores themes of Mistrust of Feminine Agency and Desire, The Empty Performance of Social Elitism, and Imprisonment in Denial and Repression.

This guide references the 2024 Tor Nightfire edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, pregnancy termination, substance use, sexual content, cursing, child death, mental illness, gender discrimination, child sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

Anna Pace is a 34-year-old mock-up artist for an advertising agency in New York City. Anna is considered a black sheep by her family, as she is single and childless, did not graduate from college, and is not interested in actively advancing her career. Nonetheless, Anna is adventurous, creative, and keenly intelligent. Unbeknownst to most of her family, Anna terminated a pregnancy a few months before the primary plot begins, and this resulted in the end of her long-term relationship. At the start of the novel, Anna joins her family for a vacation in Italy. She will be spending the vacation with her parents, her twin brother (Benny), Benny’s boyfriend (Christopher), her sister (Nicole), Nicole’s husband (Justin), and Nicole and Justin’s two young daughters (Mia and Waverly).

The Pace family has rented an ancient villa called the Villa Taccola near a town called Monteperso in Tuscany. Anna quickly notices that the local villagers seem uncomfortable with the villa. She also experiences an oppressive and frightening atmosphere in the villa and has strange dreams. Much of the villa’s frightening atmosphere seems concentrated in a tower that the family is warned never to open.

As the days pass, tensions rise among the family members, and Anna is increasingly blamed for causing disruptions to the vacation. Anna begins to conduct research and question local residents. She pieces together that in the early 16th century, a local noblewoman named Caterina Colonna had an affair with the man who lived in the villa and became furious when he eventually rejected her. She attempted to use magic to lure him back and began an affair with his teenage son. Caterina eventually poisoned the entire family before dying by suicide at the villa. Ever since then, it has been haunted. Caterina’s ghost is connected to the tower key and becomes active whenever the key is used.

Since the villa is known to be haunted, local residents have avoided it for centuries. Individuals who rent the villa for holidays often die in bizarre accidents. After Anna’s family opens the tower, she begins to get glimpses of Caterina’s ghost, which takes the form of a grotesque woman with blonde hair. Tensions continue within the family, especially after Christopher seemingly leaves abruptly. Meanwhile, the entire family seems to be losing memories and awareness of stretches of time. Anna increasingly urges the family to leave the villa but is accused of trying to sabotage the vacation. Finally, after a series of violent and frightening supernatural events, the family does flee. Anna returns to America alone, disgusted by her family’s refusal to accept what she is telling them.

Back in New York, Anna is horrified to realize that Caterina’s ghost has accompanied her and is now haunting her apartment. Anna begins researching ways to drive out a ghost, but before long, Anna has been evicted from her apartment and fired from her job. She travels back to Villa Taccola, seemingly prepared to give up and cede control to Caterina. However, back at the villa, Anna uses the occult knowledge she has researched to begin a ritual that will strip Caterina of her power and confine her to the tower. The ghosts of all the people Caterina has harmed and killed gather and assist Anna with the ritual. The ghost of Christopher is also present; it emerges that Anna’s family (under Caterina’s influence) killed him during one of the portions of the vacation that they cannot remember. Anna and the ghosts succeed in enclosing Caterina back in the tower, where she can no longer wreak destruction. Anna takes the key with her, granting her control over keeping Caterina contained.

Around 15 years later, Anna has become a successful artist and cut ties with most of her dysfunctional family. She lives happily in Italy and feels a sense of contentment and freedom with the life she has built.