Scarlett Thomas

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The Sleepwalkers

Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on a tiny Greek island for their honeymoon. It's the end of the season and a storm is imminent. Determined to make the best of it, they check into the sun-soaked doors of the Villa Rosa. Already feeling insecure after seeing the 'beautiful people,' the seemingly endless number of young models and musicians lounging along the Mediterranean, Evelyn is wary of the hotel's owner, Isabella, who seems to only have eyes for Richard. Isabella ostensibly disapproves of every request Evelyn makes, seemingly annoyed at the fact that they are there at all. Isabella is also preoccupied with her chance to enthral the only other guests — an American producer named Marcus and his partner Debbie — with the story of 'the sleepwalkers,' a couple who had stayed at the hotel recently and drowned. Everyone seems to want to talk about the sleepwalkers, but what at first seemed eccentric, decorative, or simply ridiculous, becomes a living nightmare. Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths, but it's their confessions around the origins of their relationship and the years leading up to their marriage that might save them. Exhilarating, suspenseful, and subversively funny, The Sleepwalkers asks urgent questions about relationships, sexuality, and the darkest elements of contemporary society — where our most terrible secrets are hidden in plain sight.