The Scarletti Curse

The Scarletti Curse is a gothic romance with paranormal elements by the American writer Christine Feehan, published in 2001. It is built around a great palazzo of the kind gothic fiction has always liked, where the architecture is part of the threat.

The house is covered in twisted carvings and hideous gargoyles, and its reputation is worse than its decoration: each bride who passes through its doors is expected to leave it in a coffin. Nicoletta, who has a gift for healing and no intention of being commanded by any man, has never been frightened of curses or of marriage until she meets the head of the family.

Don Scarletti holds the old right to take a bride from among the people of his estate, and he chooses her. The novel follows the bargain she makes with him, the duty that compels her and the desire that draws her, and the fear that the powerful and tormented man she is giving herself to may turn out to be her death rather than her destiny.