"The Absolutes is fantastic, a dark, utterly absorbing novel about infatuation and power. It has an elegant, headlong intensity that captures its central affair with style and grace to spare." -- Andrew Martin, author of Early Work

When Nora, a withdrawn American teenager, is sent to live with relatives in Turin, she meets Nicola, the enigmatic son of the most powerful aristocratic family in Italy. They forge a sudden, powerful connection and a reckless feeling takes hold of Nora: blind trust and insatiable desire.

Years later in New York, chance brings them together, and the two begin an affair. But Nora is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when unrelenting currents of obsession, control, and revenge entangle her in a secret plot to overthrow Nicola's corrupt father. Soon, she must decide for herself what makes a person truly evil and what she's willing to excuse for a chance at total intimacy.

Utterly seductive, fiercely intelligent, and achingly beautiful, The Absolutes is a revealing portrait of a relationship that is as intoxicating as it is disquieting. Molly Dektar has crafted a hypnotic, provocative, and profound study of desire.