Nicola Lagioia

The spellbinding true story of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history In March 2016, in an apartment on the outskirts of Rome, two “ordinary” young men brutally tortured and murdered twenty-two-year-old Luca Varani. News of the seemingly inexplicable crime sent shockwaves across Rome and beyond. After the crime comes to light, Lagioia begins investigating the crime by meeting with the victim’s family and corresponding with one of the killers. It soon becomes clear, however, that to investigate this crime means to descend into the darkest corners of Rome and of the human psyche. Lagioia leads us through a maze of betrayed expectations, sexual confusion, economic grievances and identity crises to locate the breaking point, the point after which anything is possible. Sharp, hypnotic, and devastating, The City of The Living is not just the story of a crime, but of human nature itself: the tension between responsibility and guilt, between the drive to oppress and the desire to be free, and between who we are and who we can become.

Secretos, ambici n desmedida, redenci n y poder. La novela de Nicola Lagioia ganadora del prestigioso Premio Strega (2015). «De vez en cuando nos preguntamos: cu ndo habr una gran novela italiana? Pues bien, podr amos empezar por La ferocidad . Giancarlo De Cataldo En una c lida noche de primavera, una joven camina por la carretera. Est desnuda y cubierta de sangre. Horas m s tarde, el hallazgo de su cuerpo sin vida revelar su identidad: Clara Salvemini, la primog nita de la familia m s influyente de la zona. Se habla de suicidio, pero qu ocurri realmente? Qu la vinculaba a los turbios negocios de su padre? Y la relaci n con sus hermanos, sobre todo con Michele, el hijo bastardo, tendr algo que ver con su muerte? Entre mansiones de la rica periferia de Bari, baches en un r pido ascenso social, un elenco de personajes inolvidables y las tensiones de una familia al borde de la desgracia, Nicola Lagioia -ganador del prestigioso Premio Strega y autor de La ciudad de los vivos- desmenuza y define nuestra despiadada contemporaneidad y teje una trama que explora la ferocidad latente en cada individuo, atrapando al lector en un laberinto de secretos y mentiras. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION This Strega Prize winner "ticks all the boxes of a thriller while also being a masterfully written, baroque, many-faceted depiction of modern Italy" (The Spectator). Bari, southern Italy: On a stifling summer night, on the outskirts of town, a young woman named Clara, daughter of the region's most prominent family of real estate developers, stumbles naked, dazed, and bloodied down a major highway. Her death will be deemed a suicide. Her estranged half-brother, however, cannot free himself from her memory or the questions surrounding her death, and the more he learns about Clara's life, the more he reveals the moral decay at the core of his family's ascent to social prominence. Winner of the 2015 Strega Prize, Italy's preeminent prize for fiction, Ferocity is at once an intimate family saga, a cinematic portrait of the moral and political corruption of an entire society, and a "gripping" tale of suspense (The Irish Times). "Biting social commentary as well as edge-of-seat reading."―Library Journal (starred review) "Allows the mystery to slowly and captivatingly resolve while offering a layered portrait of contemporary Italian life and the abuses of power that money can excuse."―Publishers Weekly "Complex, darkly absorbing and mysterious literary fiction."―Booklist

"… en insiktsfull socioekonomisk analys av Italien - och ett försök att förstå vad människor kan göra mot varandra och mot sig själva." Financial Times"De levandes stad" är en dokumentärroman om ett brutalt italienskt mordfall, en resa längs den eviga stadens gator och en undersökning av människans mörkaste vrår. I mars 2016 gick 23-årige Luca Varani en fruktansvärd död till mötes i en lägenhet i utkanten av Rom. Polisen hittade snabbt de två unga män som torterat och mördat honom. De kom båda från ansedda familjer och tycktes sakna motiv. Vad hade utlöst det extrema våldet? Ingen i deras närhet kunde tänka sig att de var kapabla till något sådant. Fallet skakade Italien och uppmärksammades internationellt. Nicola Lagioia, som skrev för tidningen La Repubblica, intervjuade släktingar och vänner till de inblandade, tog del av förhörsprotokoll och korresponderade med en av gärningspersonerna. Snart insåg han att han måste söka svaren genom en nedstigning i skuggstaden Rom, präglad av våld, droger och korruption.

A CRIMEREADS AND WORLD LITERATURE TODAY NOTABLE BOOK OF 2023From Nicola Lagioia, winner of the Strega Prize for Fiction, a spellbinding literary thriller based on the true story of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history. An intoxicating novel that takes readers on a surprising journey into the darkest corners of contemporary Rome and of the human soul. In March 2016, in a nondescript apartment on the outskirts of Rome, Manuel Foffo and Marco Prato, two "ordinary" young men from good families, brutally murdered twenty-three-year-old Luca Varani. News of the seemingly inexplicable crime sent shockwaves through Rome and beyond. What motivated such extreme violence? Were the killers evil or in the grip of societal evils? Did they know what they were doing? Or were they possessed? And if the latter, possessed by what? Based on months of interviews, court documentation, and correspondence with the killers themselves, The City of the Living is not only a fast-paced, revelatory thriller in the style of Lisa Taddeo's Animal, it is also a descent into the dark heart of Rome--a city that is unlivable and yet teeming with life, overrun by rats and wild animals, and plagued by corruption, drugs, and violence. Yet, the Eternal City is also a place that, more than any other in the world, seems to inspire a sense of absolute freedom in its inhabitants. Proceeding in concentric circles, Nicola Lagioia leads us through a maze of betrayed expectations, sexual confusion, inability to grow up, economic grievances, crises of identity--progressively tightening the focus of the analysis to locate the breaking point after which anything is possible. As hypnotic as Erik Larson's Devil in the White City, an heir to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and destined to cast on spell on fans of the Morbid podcast, The City of the Living is Nicola Lagioia's most gripping, bestselling, and critically acclaimed novel to-date. Razor-sharp, unputdownable, devastating, it is the story not only of a crime but of human nature itself; of the tension between responsibility and guilt, between the drive to oppress and the desire to be free; of who we are and who we can become.

In March 2016, in an apartment on the outskirts of Rome, two “ordinary” young men brutally tortured and murdered twenty-two-year-old Luca Varani. News of the seemingly inexplicable crime sent shockwaves across Rome and beyond. After the crime comes to light, Lagioia begins investigating the crime by meeting with the victim’s family and corresponding with one of the killers. It soon becomes clear, however, that to investigate this crime means to descend into the darkest corners of Rome and of the human psyche. Lagioia leads us through a maze of betrayed expectations, sexual confusion, economic grievances and identity crises to locate the breaking point, the point after which anything is possible. Sharp, hypnotic, and devastating, The City of The Living is not just the story of a crime, but of human nature itself: the tension between responsibility and guilt, between the drive to oppress and the desire to be free, and between who we are and who we can become.

I marts 2016 bliver den 23-årigeLuca Varani fundet brutalt myrdet i en lejlighed i en af Roms forstæder. Hurtigt finder politiet de to unge gerningsmænd, Manuel Foffo og Marc Prato, der kommer fra en helt normalbaggrund og tilsyneladende har dræbt Varani uden noget motiv. Sagen vækker opsigt i både italienske og udenlandske medier, og Nicola Lagioia, der arbejderfor avisen la Repubblica, bliver ekstremt optaget af historien. Gennem fem år interviewer han familie og venner og korresponderer med en af gerningsmændene i fængslet, og efterhånden aner han en sammenhæng mellem gerningsmændenes adfærd og den lovløshed, der plager Rom. Og han stiger ned i en skyggeby, et andet Rom, der er præget af vold og korruption. De levendes by er et svimlende litterært mesterværk, og en værdig efterfølger til Truman Capotes I koldt blod.

Vuonna 2016 Italiaa kuohutti kammottava henkirikos: kaksi nuorukaista houkutteli mukaansa kolmannen, joka sai surmansa julman ja harkitun kidutuksen jälkeen. Kirjailija Nicola Lagioia järkyttyi tapauksesta hänkin ja ryhtyi tutkimaan niin tekijöiden kuin uhrinkin taustaa. Hän haastatteli sukulaisia ja ystäviä, luki loputtomasti asiakirjoja ja kävi myös kirjeenvaihtoa toisen murhaajan kanssa. Syntyi väkevä, taidokkaasti rakennettu tosikertomus, joka pyrkii eläytymään tapahtuneen syihin ja ymmärtämään ihmisen pimeintä puolta. Yhtenä itseoikeutettuna päähenkilönä on Rooman kaupunki: kaunis ja korruptoitunut, lumoava ja läpimätä.

Southern Italy, the 1980s. On a hot summer's night under a full moon, far from the outlying neighbourhoods of a southern Italian metropolis, Clara stumbles naked, dazed, and bloodied down a major highway. When she dies no-one is able to say exactly how or why, but her brother cannot free himself from her memory or from the questions surrounding her death. The more he learns about her life and death, the more he uncovers the moral decay at the core of his family's ascent to social prominence.