About the Book
Sometimes love isn’t where you belong
In a small town in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Gino, a troubled young man, realises that his childhood sweetheart Franca can give his life the happiness and stability he needs. They seem made for each other, and move to a remote house in the countryside. Franca soon gives birth to a son so handsome that people come from miles around to see him – but his sheer beauty causes Gino to doubt that he is truly the boy’s father.
Descending into pathological jealousy and resentment towards a married man who had been Franca’s lover, Gino is unable to stop himself imagining the worst, and embarks on a violent path that has catastrophic effects on those around him.
Format: eARC (251 pages) Publisher: Apollo
Publication date: 7th May 2026 Genre: Fiction
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My Review
I’ve read two previous books by Rupert Thomson both very different, demonstrating his versatility. Secrecy was a historical mystery set in 17th century Florence and How to Make a Bomb about a man in the grip of a malaise created by the modern world. In Dark is the Morning the author takes us inside the head of Gino; it is indeed a dark place.
Gino seems to have everything. He’s recovered from a period confined to a psychiatric hospital as a result of an act of violence he carried out, he’s living a mostly drug free life, he has a good job, and has been reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Franca. Their love for each other has been rekindled, they have found the perfect house in a beautiful location and Franca has given birth to their son, Elio.
But Gino is a man who seems bent on self-destruction, perpetually going over in his mind his father’s criticisms of his inadequacy and shortcomings. Gino is unable to rid himself of the idea that he cannot possibly be the father of a baby as astoundingly beautiful as Elio, examining his own features in the mirror and finding no similarity. ‘I was looking for my son’s face in my own, and I could find no trace of it. It wasn’t there.’ Unable – or unwilling through an innate paranoia – to accept Franca’s assurances that she has not been unfaithful, he begins to stalk the man he believes to be Elio’s father, a man with his own reputation for violence. Increasingly afflicted by disturbing dreams and unable to control his feelings of jealousy, Gino commits a devastating act from which there is no going back.
There is a pervasive sense of unease throughout the book, manifested by things such as a mysterious and unexplained episode in the life of the house’s previous owner. On the other hand, there are wonderful descriptions of the landscape of Abruzzo, Italian food and wine. Dark is the Morning is a slow burn of a novel but one which gradually builds to a crescendo. It’s dark but also sad because you’re left with a lingering sense of what could have been for Gino, Franca and Elio.
I received a review copy courtesy of Apollo via NetGalley.
In three words: Dark, intense, compelling
Try something similar: Belladonna by Anbara Salam
About the Author
Rupert Thomson is the author of more than a dozen acclaimed novels, including Barcelona Dreaming, Never Anyone But You, Katherine Carlyle, Secrecy, The Insult, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and selected by David Bowie as one of his 100 Must-Read Books of All Time, The Book of Revelation, which was made into a feature film by Ana Kokkinos, and Death of a Murderer, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award. His memoir, This Party’s Got to Stop, was named Writers’ Guild Non-Fiction Book of the Year. He lives in London. (Photo: Amazon author page)
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