The Fatal Gift of Beauty
The Trials of Amanda Knox
by Nina Burleigh
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Pub Date Aug 02 2011 | Archive Date Sep 01 2012
Crown Publishing Group | Broadway
Description
The sexually violent murder of twenty-one-year-old British student Meredith
Kercher in Perugia, Italy, on the night of November 1, 2007, became an
international sensation when one of Kercher's housemates, twenty-year-old
Seattle native Amanda Knox, as well as her Italian boyfriend and a troubled
local man Knox said she "vaguely" knew, was arrested and charged with the
murder. The Fatal Gift of Beauty is award-winning author and journalist Nina
Burleigh's mesmerizing literary investigation of the murder, the controversial
prosecution, the conviction and twenty-six-year sentence of Knox, the
machinations of Italian justice, and the underground depravity and clash of
cultures in one of central -Italy's most beloved cities.
When
Perugia authorities concluded that the murder was part of a dark, twisted rite-a
"sex game"-led by the American with an uncanny resemblance to Perugia's Madonna,
they unleashed a media frenzy from Rome to London to New York and Seattle. The
story drew an international cult obsessed with "Foxy Knoxy," a pretty honor
student on a junior year abroad, who either woke up one morning into a nightmare
of superstition and misogyny-the dark side of Italy-or participated in something
unspeakable.'
The investigation begins in the old stone cottage
overlooking bucolic olive groves where Kercher's body was found in her locked
bedroom. It winds through the shadowy, arched alleys of Perugia, a city of art
that is also a magnet for tens of thousands of students who frequent its bars,
clubs, and drug bazaar on the steps of the Duomo. It climaxes in an up-close
account of Italy's dysfunctional legal system, as the trial slowly unfolds at
the town's Tribunale, and the prosecution's thunderous final appeal to God
before the quivering girl defendant resembles a scene from the
Inquisition.
To reveal what actually happened on that terrible
night after Halloween, Nina Burleigh lived in Perugia, attended the trial, and
corresponded with the incarcerated defendants. She also delved deeply into the
history, secrets, and customs of Perugia, renowned equally for its Etruscan
tunnels, early Christian art, medieval sorcerers, and pagan roots.
The Fatal Gift of Beauty is a thoughtful, compelling examination of an enduring mystery, an ancient, storied place, and a disquieting facet of Italian culture: an obsession with female eroticism. It is also an acute window into the minds and personalities of the accused killers and of the conservative Italian magistrate striving to make sense of an inexplicable act of evil. But at its core is an indelible portrait of Amanda Knox, the strangely childlike, enigmatic beauty, whose photogenic face became the focal point of international speculation about the shadow side of youth and freedom.
Advance Praise
"Finally, the twisted tale of Amanda Knox, the all-American college girl convicted of murder in Italy, gets the telling this extraordinary story deserves. Nina Burleigh's immersion in Italian cultural history provides a context that allows us--first the first time--to understand how this international miscarriage of justice could have occurred. Stirring, compelling, and in the end a tragic tale worthy of Italian opera." --Joe McGinniss, author of Fatal Vision, The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro and The Rogue
"The global media, in its frenzied coverage of the sensational Amanda Knox murder trial, overlooked what Nina Burleigh has skillfully unearthed and analyzed--a compelling chain of evidence, subtle levels of significance. Her telling of the tale is clearly the only one that gets it right."--John Berendt, author of The City of Falling Angels and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
"A fascinating book about a beautiful American girl in Italy and how she was prosecuted for a murder she may not have committed. It is also a study in sexism and criminal law--especially in Italy. Horrifyingly readable."-- Erica Jong
"Nina Burleigh has cut through the confusion of conflicting and often inaccurate news accounts of the Amanda Knox murder case and given us a lucid, fair-minded account of the case. She shows, quite convincingly, that Knox and her co-defendant have been victims of a serious miscarriage of justice. Perhaps more importantly, she explains why, showing the case to be the product of cultural misunderstanding between Italy and the U.S."--Alexander Stille, author of The Sack of Rome
"[In] this powerful example of narrative non-fiction...Burleigh, who parses how the Knox trial was perhaps tainted, still presents a fair and unbiased portrait of a girl adrift in a foreign legal system and a culture rife with preconceptions about young American women." -Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Burleigh's propulsive narrative and the many unsettling aspects of the case make this a standout among recent true-crime titles."-Kirkus Reviews
"Journalist/author Burleigh (e.g., Unholy Business) reconstructs a murder case that has proved to be about much more than murder."-Library Journal
"A fascinating book about a beautiful American girl in Italy and how she was prosecuted for a murder she may not have committed. It is also a study in sexism and criminal law--especially in Italy. Horrifyingly readable." --Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying
"Savvy true-crime reporting combined with a headline-hogging murder trial."-Booklist
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9780307588586 |
| PRICE | |
