Beyond the Cypress Trees
Sooni Shroff-Gander

A magnificent Tuscan villa.
Scorching summer sun.
Family, friends, food, and wine.
And a dark swell of lies that unravels a seemingly perfect life…

Vivienne and Richard appear to have it all: a fulfilling marriage, three successful children, and a gorgeous villa in Tuscany where they always spend their holidays. But the long, luminous summer days and balmy nights in the Chianti region conceal secrets and lies, betrayals and deceptions. Nothing is as it seems.

Vivienne, a dutiful wife and loving mother, is having a sizzling affair with her son’s best friend—a man half her age. For the first time in years, she feels wild, wanton, sexy, and seductive again.

Richard, hugely successful, charming, and generous, is a different man behind closed doors, hiding his own skeletons and a legacy of turbulence and trauma.

When Charlie, their eldest son, arrives at the villa with his American fiancée and her parents, the family begins to fracture and unravel, even as Vivienne scrambles to salvage it.

Guido, the surly gardener, watches it all unfold, knowing exactly what he will do. The stakes are too high for both Vivienne and Richard if they lose everything they have carefully built.

As the dark underbelly of the family is exposed, the question remains: will they be able to survive the summer?