When botanical artist Clare Livingstone unexpectedly inherits her uncle’s property in Tuscany, she travels to Italy to learn why, despite their long estrangement and complicated past, she was chosen to maintain his legacy.

The hill town of Cortona, however, won’t give up its secrets easily. Clare is immediately plunged into intrigue. Two men pursue her, but with agendas of their own; neighbours try to delve into the story of her past; and unscrupulous archaeologists are drawn to her property in search of buried Etruscan artefacts. Once again forced to negotiate between desire and history – in a balance as fragile as the orchids she illustrates for science – Clare realizes she cannot escape her life of deception until she finally confronts the truth she has kept buried so long.

Barbara Lambert was awarded The Malahat Review's Novella Prize for "A Message for Mr. Lazarus" in 1996 by judges Jack Hodgins, Michael Kenyon and Sharon Ris. Her story "The Queen of Saxony" was a CBC Competition finalist and a Journey Prize nominee. She has been published in several Canadian literary magazines and divides her time between North Vancouver and Penticton, BC. The Allegra Series is her debut novel. Weaving finely spun filaments of the lyric and mythic, Barbara Lambert creates a vivid tapestry of a year in the life of Vancouver's Allegra Schliemann, a middle-aged woman in the throes of a knotty love affair with a married man, a newly-crafted career as an artisan and a battle against a debilitating disease. Unable to see her way clear of the emotional clutter these changes wreak, Allegra hires would-be artist Brad Lindhall to fashion her a mirrored wall, praying it will bring light and clarity into the encroaching dusk of her own life. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Brad's estranged wife Mona researches a work known as A Brief History of Cloth and Clay for an upcoming installation, her voice reaching into the past and across the country. In this brilliant recasting of a traditional love triangle, three artists find their way into the heart of genius, and of darkness, emerging strangely and irrevocably intertwined. Like her many mythological predecessors-Philomena, Ariadne and Athena-Allegra encircles lovers, entraps enemies and unfurls in the face of adversity.

Barbara Lambert's profile page

“Should appeal to a wide audience—including those who seek sustained and detailed prose, those interested in a suspense plot surrounding social intrigue, or those inquisitive about philosophical problems … will push you to re-examine its various levels of meaning and above all to take pleasure in the beauty that emerges from this process of excavation.”

Winnipeg Review

"Sexy and sophisticated, The Whirling Girl is a fairytale for grown-ups. The hero, rich and besotted, lives in a castle; the setting, golden Tuscany, is bewitching; the adventure, a search for buried Etruscan treasure, is exhilarating. But it's the sly, wry heroine - lovely and messy and flawed and true - who provides the real enchantment, undermining our expectations and exceeding them at the same time."

Annabel Lyon, author of <i>The Golden Mean</i>