Welcome to the The Red House by Mary Morris book tour hosted by Suzy Approved Book Tours. 

About The Red House

Thirty years ago, Laura’s mother, Viola, went missing. She left behind her purse, keys, and mysterious paintings of a red house. Viola was never found, and her family never recovered. Laura, an artist herself, held on to the paintings. On the back of each work, her mother scrawled in Italian, “I will not be here forever.” The family never understood what Viola meant. 

Decades later, at a crossroads in her marriage, Laura returns to Italy, where her parents met after World War II. Laura spent the earliest years of her childhood there before the family moved to New Jersey and settled into an American dream that eventually became a nightmare. Viola, who claimed to be an orphan, staunchly refused to speak of her life before marriage. 

In Italy, Laura finds herself on a strange scavenger hunt to solve the puzzle of her mother’s lost years. She is certain that the paintings of the red house hold the answer to her mother’s past, and her search takes her from her hometown of Brindisi, deep into Puglia, where she encounters a man who knew her mother and who illuminates little-known secrets of Italy’s Second World War.  

Blending elements of true crime with settings that evoke Elena Ferrante, Laura follows her mother’s trajectory as she ventures north to Naples, Turin, and finally home. Along the way, she confronts the dark truth of her mother’s story and at last makes sense of her own.

Book Blurbs

In The Red House, Mary Morris transports readers from the sunlit landscapes of Italy to the shadows of its wartime past as she traces the haunting legacy of a mother’s disappearance.  This mesmerizing, beautifully layered novel maps the geography of loss with devastating precision.”—Christina Baker Kline

“You know, when you read Mary Morris, that you will get exquisite writing and vibrant world-building and people that break your heart. But The Red House is even more unforgettable – a mystery of time, place, and character that reveals how the gaps in our personal histories are the ones that somehow become the building blocks of our lives.” — Jodi Picoult 

The Red House is a wonderful novel – suspenseful and surprising – with history at its heart.  Investigating a painful family mystery – the decades-old disappearance of a mother – leads us into a small town in Puglia and its buried past under fascism.  A riveting story.”  — Joan Silber

Review for The Red House

I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. 

If you love a good mystery with a dash of history and a whole lot of heart, The Red House totally delivers. When Laura heads to Italy to dig into the decades-old disappearance of her mom, Viola, she uncovers way more than just family secrets—she finds a whole town full of stories, stretching all the way back to WWII.

Mary Morris nails the storytelling here. The writing is lyrical but super readable, the characters feel real (like, you want to sit down and have wine with them), and the Italian setting is beautifully vivid. It’s got that perfect blend of true crime, historical fiction, and emotional mystery that keeps you flipping pages and maybe wiping away a few tears.

At the heart of it, this is a story about silence, trauma, and how history echoes through generations. It’s deep, but also incredibly human. A haunting, heartfelt read that stays with you.

About The Author

Mary Morris is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novels Gateway to the Moon, The Jazz Palace, A Mother’s Love, and House Arrest, and of nonfiction, including the travel classic Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone. Morris is a recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature and the 2016 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

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The Red House Book Tour

Follow along on the tour hosted by Suzy Approved Book Tours to see what others have to say!

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May

 8th- Cassie’s Book Reviews https://instagram.com/cassies_books_reviews  

 8th- A Court Of spines n pages https://instagram.com/acourtofspinesnpages

 9th- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/ 

 12th- Reading On The Brink https://www.instagram.com/readingonthebrink

 13th- Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62

 14th- Art X Souls https://instagram.com/artxsouls

 15th- CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks

 15th- Love My Books 2020 https://instagram.com/lovemybooks2020

 16th- Reecas Pieces Books https://instagram.com/reecaspiecesbooks 

 20th- Nissa The Bookworm https://instagram.com/nissa_the.bookworm

 20th- Tiffany Vt4 https://instagram.com/tiffanyvt4

 21st- Laura’s Next Chapter https://instagram.com/laurasnextchapter

 22nd- Marilyn Goncalves https://instagram.com/marilynjgon

 22nd- Get Outside and Read https://instagram.com/get.outside.and.read

 23rd- Miss W Book Reviews https://instagram.com/misswbookreviews

 23rd- Sarahs Bookish Reviews https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookish.reviews

 24th- Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding

 24th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading

 27th- The Book Club Mom https://instagram.com/thebookclubmom

 28th- Carol Doscher https://instagram.com/carol_doscher_reader

 28th- Kelizak Reads https://instagram.com/kelizakreads

 29th- Reading Is My Remedy https://instagram.com/reading_is_my_remedy

 29th- Reading Late Into The Night https://instagram.com/reading.late.into.the.night

 30th- Reading With Mere-https://instagram.com/readingwithmere

June

 1st- StamperLady  https://instagram.com/stamperlady50

 1st- Bookphile Belle https://instagram.com/bookphile_belle

 3rd- Nurse Bookie https://instagram.com/nurse_bookie

 5th- Sarah’s Bookstack https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookstack

 9th- Joannas Bookshelf https://instagram.com/joannasbookshelf

 10th- Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine

 10th- Dana Loves Books https://www.instagram.com/dana.loves.books

 11th- Coffee Break Book Reviews https://instagram.com/coffee.break.book.reviews

 12th- One More Exclamation https://instagram.com/onemoreexclamation

 14th- 2 Many Books 2 Little Time https://instagram.com/2manybooks2littletime

 15th- Shooks Books https://instagram.com/shook_sbooks

 18th- Nature Books and Coffee https://instagram.com/nature.books.and.coffee

 20th- Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff

 24th- On A Sandbar https://www.instagram.com/on_a_sandbar

 26th- Jennifer Tar Heel Reader – https://instagram.com/tarheelreader

 27th- Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx

 28th- Texacali Books https://instagram.com/texacalibooks 

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