The Savage Garden
Encyclopedia
The Savage Garden is the second novel written by British
author
Mark Mills
. Set in 1958, the story tells of Cambridge student
Adam Strickland and his trip to Tuscany
, Italy
; which started off as a chance to study the old, Italian renaissance
architecture of a garden owned by the aristocratic Docci family and results in Adam solving two murders: one from the 16th century and one just after World War II
. His discoveries shake the entire lineage of the Docci clan including his love interest Antonella's life.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Mark Mills
Mark Mills (writer)
Mark Mills is a British writer of screenplays and novels. His first screenplay was BAFTA nominated short film One Night Stand starring Jemma Redgrave and James Purefoy in 1993; this won Mills a 'Best Screenplay' award at the Angers European First Film Festival in 1995.Mills' first novel was...
. Set in 1958, the story tells of Cambridge student
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
Adam Strickland and his trip to Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
; which started off as a chance to study the old, Italian renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
architecture of a garden owned by the aristocratic Docci family and results in Adam solving two murders: one from the 16th century and one just after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His discoveries shake the entire lineage of the Docci clan including his love interest Antonella's life.
Characters
- Adam Strickland – the stories protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, an Engish student studying at The University of Cambridge who goes to Tuscany to study the Docci family's Villa. - Signora Francesca Doccci
- Maria Docci
- Maurizio Docci
- Harry Strickland – Harry is Adam's older, fun-loving brother. Harry is a sculptor who often gets into little problems and disagreements with people; resulting in Adam having to help him out of them on some occasions.
- Signora Fanelli – owner of The Pensione Amorini, the bar/restaurant above which Adam stayed. She is in a relationship with Fausto.
- Fausto
- Professor Crispin Leonard – one of Adam's lecturers and (unbeknown to him) father of Emilio Docci.
- Maria – the housekeeper to the Docci Villa and a confidant to Signora Docci. Maria became a key player in keeping Signora Docci's plan from both Maurizio and Adam.
- Emilio Docci – Signora Docci's son and secretly fathered by Professor Leonard. He was killed by his half brother Maurizio.
- Chiara Docci – Maurizio's academic wife.
- Antonella - She is the granddaughter of Signora Docci and daughter of Caterina. She is a fashion designer and has played a mysterious character on a little flirtatious note with Adam. Later on, the love affair between Adam and her becomes strong, and they eventually end up together on a happy note. Mark Mills did a great job to raise suspicions around her character in a subtle way which somehow makes the protagonist and readers as well that she deceived Adam.