The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry (Book Summary)

Purchase The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GQRWu6

Three women died on Halloween night in 1989, and ever since, Rose has been close to being insane. On the night, along with the three women, Callie Cahill, one of the woman’s daughters, was also there and saved by Rose. Since those murders, Rose devoted most of her time to find out the killer or the Banshee.

When a boy was once again killed recently, putting the blame on Rose, the murder of the three women known as the goddesses were once again brought up, to the point that majority of the people in town wanted to dig up the dead body for further investigation. 

Callie Cahill was kept by nuns and was told that Rose was already dead. However, when she saw on the news that she was once again linked to another death, she decided to go back to Salem and visit Rose. When she met Rose, she was far from the person Callie lived with when she was young. Rose has been homeless, and she is unresponsive most of the time. To help Rose’s recovery, Callie stayed in Salem for a while and lived with Rafferty and Towner. Rafferty is the chief of police, while Towner is his wife.

While in Salem, Callie met Paul Whitings and later fell in love with him, although she was hesitant at first because she kept having dreams of Paul naked in bed, about to have sex with the goddesses (which later on turned out to be just Paul’s father). She has been invited to their grand home, where she tried curing his mom’s cancer with sound therapy. Rose has been invited to their home for an event. However, she insisted on staying outside, hoping to find answers from the trees. Sadly, Rose died as she froze outdoors.

To cope with the grief, Callie went with Paul to Matera. They were happy together. However, they received a phone call and were told that Paul’s mother had died. It came as a surprise for the both of them because while Callie was treating her, Paul’s mom appeared to be getting better. Worse, just weeks after the death, Paul’s father Finn announces his wedding to Marta, an old family friend.

Callie and Paul went back. Paul fought with his father because he disapproved of the wedding with Marta, while Callie was told by Marta that she should stay away from Paul to save herself – because the Whitings men always betray the woman they love. True enough, Callie left Paul when she noticed that he had become so obsessed with the wedding, and Callie felt like he didn’t know him anymore.

While she was away, Paul called her, and she picked it up. Paul was asking for help, and she hurriedly went back and found Paul. No one was there to help them. She was feeling a little dizzy herself. After a few hours, Marta appeared, and Callie was relieved because Paul’s pulse had slowed down. However, it turns out that Marta planned it all along. Marta admitted to being the one who killed Paul’s mother. She admitted to poisoning Paul, his father, and Callie, although Callie only took a sip. Marta also revealed that she was there when the goddesses were killed and that she was the Banshee. She was the fifth petal, and she killed the goddesses.

Marta died that night while she and Callie fought. Paul’s father died, and Paul could survive, although it took him some time to recover. 

The End of The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry.

• Purchase The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GQRWu6