Bad Juliet

At a tuberculosis sanitarium in the Adirondacks, a young tutor falls in love with a mysterious woman who survived the Lusitania disaster.

"Bad Juliet will hold you in its grip from its opening pages, combining the pacing and twists of a thriller with the compelling characterizations and masterful prose of a writer at the top of his form." - Nino Ricci, award-winning author of The Origin of Species

Recently jilted by his fiancé, Paul Gascoyne takes a job as a tutor to the patients at the Trudeau Sanitarium in upstate New York. There, in the icebound beauty of the Adirondack Mountains, he finds himself drawn to Sarah Ballard, a beautiful but enigmatic young woman, traumatized by her past aboard the ill-fated ship Lusitania. To rouse her out of her gloom, Paul encourages her to write a memoir.

As Paul reads her words, it gradually becomes clear that Sarah's memories are a tangle of truth and fiction that he can't begin to unravel. And yet he cannot overcome his attraction to her. When a terrible relapse leaves Sarah worried that she has little time left, she begs Paul to be the one person in the world who will truly know her.

Giles Blunt grew up in North Bay, Ontario, before studying English Literature at the University of Toronto. The author of twelve novels, including the award-winning John Cardinal Mystery series, Blunt has more recently turned to literary fiction with Bad Juliet. He lives in Toronto.

ISBN: 9781459755727
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: August 05, 2025

Giles Blunt deftly captures the mystique of a tuberculosis 'healing' town, and all the unavoidable drama that occurs when obsessive love sets itself inside a patient's mind and body.Bad Juliet will hold you in its grip from its opening pages, combining the pacing and twists of a thriller with the compelling characterizations and masterful prose of a writer at the top of his form. Giles Blunt captures the world of an early twentieth-century sanitarium with the vividness and nuance of Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, all the while confronting us with issues just as pressing today as they were a hundred years ago.Bad Juliet peels back the placid surface of a sanitarium town in early twentieth-century upstate New York to reveal tragedy, lies, and passionate love among characters who are much more complicated than they seem at first glance. With the enigmatic woman at its centre and its many unexpected turns, this is Giles Blunt at his narrative best.A powerful, engrossing, and beautifully written tale of a struggling poet, a famous Broadway playwright, and the beautiful young woman - a survivor of the Lusitania suffering from tuberculosis - whom both men love. Set in a sanitarium among the awe-inspiring lakes and forests of upstate New York, Bad Juliet shadows the trio as the men vie for the affections of a woman whose dark past and horrifying secrets threaten them all. Bad Juliet is a romance, a period piece, and a mystery, not to mention a North American answer to Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain.In this charming novel, Giles Blunt uses the magic of his narrative talents to tantalize us about the true character of his appealing heroine, accused of lies, fraud, and loose morals. Best read by lamplight and a blazing fire.