The Unraveling of Julia

Mike is cremated and rests in an urn on a bookshelf in Julia’s home. They were planning on trying to have children in the coming year, Mike was saving up for a new car, and he had plans for his lawyers’ league championship. Julia struggles to sleep, haunted by nightmares of the mugging. She tries joining a crime victim support group, but it makes her nightmares worse. Her best friend, Courtney, convinces Julia to see a therapist, Susanna, over video chat. Julia is scared to leave the house most of the time.

Melanie and Martin Pritzker adopted Julia when she was very young, and doesn’t know anything about her biological family. On Julia’s 10th birthday, Melanie died of an aneurysm. This created a rift between Julia and Martin, who died of a heart attack when Julia was a junior in college. She is now a widow at 32. When she goes back to work, she notices that her daily emailed horoscope on StrongSign on the day that Mike was killed, October 11, predicted that “a loved one may be in jeopardy” (9).

On a video call, Julia tells Courtney about the horoscope. They have been friends since high school drama club. Courtney tells Julia not to blame herself for not warning Mike about the horoscope or her premonition. Courtney travels a lot for work and offers to come to Philadelphia to help Julia put Mike’s things into storage. Courtney then suggests that Julia move to Chicago, where Courtney lives. Julie doesn’t want to get rid of Mike’s possessions or leave their home.

Over the next six months, Julia becomes obsessed with astrology. One day, her horoscope on StrongSign predicts that her luck is going to change. Julia struggles to go outside to check the mail because of her anxiety. Back inside, she reads a letter from an Italian lawyer that says she is inheriting a villa and a large sum of money from Emilia Rossi (referred to as “Rossi”). Julia isn’t familiar with this name. She calls the lawyer, Massimiliano Lombardi.

Julia tells Lombardi that she doesn’t know Rossi. Privately, Julia thinks that she is being scammed. Julia shares that she is adopted, and Lombardi suggests that her birth mother could be related to Rossi. He says Julia is receiving €3 million, in addition to the villa, and that his office will fly her to Italy to sign the paperwork. Lombardi also offers to connect Julia with a realtor and a family investigator. He ends the call after encouraging Julia to come to Italy soon. Julia wishes the luck that her horoscope predicted was about Mike’s murder case.

Courtney comes to Philadelphia to celebrate Julia becoming a millionaire. Julia is too anxious to go out to dinner and convinces Courtney to eat in her home. Courtney has been keeping track of Julia’s Find My Phone and notices that she never goes out; Courtney is worried about Julia’s mental health. They discuss Julia’s diagnoses: depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Susanna hasn’t prescribed medication for Julia, and Courtney questions this decision.

Julia admits she doesn’t plan on going to Italy, and wants to sell the villa. Courtney is shocked. They talk about using her inheritance to pay off student loans and to buy Courtney a Porsche. Julia worries that there will be a lead in Mike’s case, or that she needs to keep reminding the police to work on Mike’s case. Courtney suggests that Rossi’s DNA will be on her belongings, suggesting that Julia should go to Italy so she can test the DNA against hers to discover if they are biologically related. Julia finally relents.

Julia struggles with her anxiety at the airport, but gets on the plane. She talks with the flight attendant about astrology apps after he sees her on StrongSign. When she arrives in Milan, a car picks her up and takes her to her hotel. Her horoscope says to let go and trust.

Julia meets with Lombardi. The family investigator he originally asked to join them has Covid, so Lombardi has set up a meeting with another investigator named Gustavo in a couple of days. Lombardi doesn’t know about Rossi’s relationship to Julia, but knows that Rossi is Emilia’s family name, as women don’t take their husbands’ names in Italy. Julia is entitled to the property in the villa, which should have DNA she can test.

A caretaker couple, Anna and Piero, lives on the property and also received money in Rossi’s will. Lombardi encourages Julia to create a will because of the size of her inheritance. She isn’t sure who she would leave her money to, but considers Courtney. Julia signs paperwork. Lombardi tells her that Rossi claimed to be related to a famous Renaissance figure, Caterina Sforza, and suggests she visit the places where Caterina lived and worshipped in Milan.

Julia feels too anxious to go into the Sforza family castle and can’t find the car that drove her there. She runs toward her hotel, bumping into people along the way.

In the morning, the car (a Mercedes) takes her to Chianti province. They are followed by a car. When they arrive at Rossi’s villa, Julia discovers it is in ruins. The caretaker Anna comes out of the front door and introduces herself.

A man gets out of the car that was following them and introduces himself as Franco, the realtor Lombardi contacted. He hopes she will sell the villa, mentions that people are already interested in the property, and gives her his card. He then leaves. Julia is anxious about going inside the villa.

The villa needs a lot of repairs, but has beautiful frescos on the ceilings, including an astrological map in the entrance hall. Anna says Rossi wouldn’t say when her birthday was and was a hermit. Furthermore, Rossi refused to allow people to repair the villa. However, it is very clean. Anna introduces Julia to Piero. Anna offers Julia bruschetta, prosciutto, and cheese, as well as Chianti wine. They toast to Rossi and Julia eats.

Anna shows Julia around the villa. There are more frescos, but a lot of the house is in disrepair. In the bedroom, above the bed, is a fresco of the Sforza family tree with a large portrait of Caterina. Anna says Rossi was obsessed with Caterina, as well as collecting jewelry, especially pearls. Rossi gave Anna the pearl earrings she is wearing. Rossi’s dog, named Bianco, is outside on the property.

Anna sees Julia’s wedding ring and asks about her husband. Julia admits that Mike was murdered. Anna says the dead appear at the villa, including her daughter, who died when she was nine. Anna suggests that Julia try talking to the dead and ask for a sign in the vineyard.

Julia walks along a path to the vineyard, which is in disrepair, like the house. She thinks about Mike and how she misses him. Specifically, she remembers when he took her to Disney World for her birthday and they said “I love you” (56) for the first time. She calls out to Mike and apologizes for not trying to talk to him until now. Then, she breaks down sobbing.

When Julia goes back inside, she tells Anna she didn’t get a sign. Anna, at Julia’s prompting, explains that Rossi burned all her possessions. Anna wanted them to be donated or sold, but Rossi refused. Julia fears she’ll never find DNA to test. Anna takes Julia to where the items were burned, past the carriage house where Anna lives. Rossi was paranoid about other people touching her things after her death.

In the rubble, Julia finds a pearl that has been half-burned, like the moon with a dark side. Anna says it is a sign. Julia asks to see Rossi’s grave.

Anna gives Julia a yellow iris, and Piero drives Julia to the village cemetery. He tells her that cypress trees are planted around the cemetery to “ward off evil spirits” (63). It starts to rain while Julia looks for Rossi’s crypt. There is a photo of Rossi, and Julia sees some similarities with herself. She touches the photo and gets an electric feeling. The electric candles in the building flicker off and back on. Julia takes pictures, leaves the iris, and runs to the car in the rain.

Back at the villa, Anna says Julia looks like Rossi, and shows her some more pictures. Anna serves dinner and goes back to her cottage after the meal. Julia looks over the photos: One picture is of Rossi and Anna together. Another is of Rossi and a dog that looks like Bianco (but isn’t) in the vineyard. The third picture is a close-up and Rossi is trying to shoo the camera away. Julia gets ready for bed.

In Rossi’s bedroom, Julia struggles to close the windows and settles for closing the curtains. There is no lock on the door, which causes Julia to feel anxious. She gets into bed and hears weird noises outside, like a screeching. The fresco above the bed comes alive: Vipers slither out into the room and dragons breathe fire. Julia runs and hides in a corner. She cries in a ball and feels like she is being charred by the fire, bitten by the snakes, and stabbed by pikes.

Julia wakes up, completely unharmed. The fresco is no longer alive. Realizing she had a nightmare, she prays “for the first time in a long time” (72).

Julia goes to Croce to meet with the realtor, Franco. Piero drops her off, but she’s early, so she walks around town. In a store, no one comes to help her and the men outside the store look away from her. In a dress store, Julia asks the saleswoman if she knows Emilia Rossi. The saleswoman says she doesn’t and won’t look at a picture. Julia heads to the realtor’s office.