{"product_id":"the-four-corners-of-palermo-isbn-9781590516652","title":"The Four Corners of Palermo","description":"\u003cb\u003eA noir and sensual page-turner that cracks open the Mafia’s secret world through the stories of four lives\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePalermo in the 1980s is a perfect place for a young crime reporter to get his start. The Sicilian Mafia is at work, threatening, wounding, and killing anyone who dares to defy their orders. Our protagonist is himself no angel, hardly compassionate, a bit macho and egocentric, but candid in his recounting of what has unfolded in front of his eyes both on the job and in his private life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDi Piazza, who is also a Sicilian journalist, tells his stories as if he were reporting actual events. His description of the tense bravado of a youth growing up in the midst of Mafia terror is strikingly acute.\"Lyrical, philosophical writing.\" —\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Amusing and tragic...[Di Piazza's] first foray into fiction is compelling and raw.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Di Piazza gives us a terrific portrayal of the brutality of the Mafia.\" —\u003ci\u003eNPR.org\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like its namesake the Quattro Canti, \u003ci\u003eThe Four Corners of Palermo\u003c\/i\u003e shows us the many faces of a city plagued by drugs, death and the Mafia. Facing violence on a daily basis and finding escape through friends and lovers, a twenty-three year-old crime reporter tries to make sense of the dark underbelly of a city of rare beauty. As Di Piazza observes, a canto is a corner in Palermo, but 'it is also a song.'\" —Ben Pastor, author of \u003ci\u003eLumen \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eA Dark Song of Blood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Thrilling, terrifying, heartbreaking. A chronicle of youth, and love, in the shadow of the Palermo Mafia. Di Piazza bravely brings to life a world that most of us close our eyes to, and in the act, draws a portrait of the city as it truly is. A breathtaking book.\" —Andrew Sean Greer, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Lives of Greta Wells \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Story of a Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I read to be transported, and Giuseppe di Piazza's\u003ci\u003e The Four Corners of Palermo\u003c\/i\u003e did just that, to 1980s Sicily, in the middle of a gruesome Mafia war. What I didn't expect was the sensuality of the writing, the lush descriptions of landscape, food, the young journalist's loves and lusts, the ocean salt and the stark blue sky, juxtaposed against a dark carnival of violence and revenge.\" —Lisa Brackmann, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHour of the Rat\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRock Paper Tiger\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGetaway\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Di Piazza recounts the people and the lives destroyed by violence with felicitous accuracy in his selection of details and psychological motivations, but he also gives us a vivid portrait of Palermo, lovely at times, like a postcard, with that climate, that light, that blue sea, and at other times a monstrous, alien city.\" —\u003ci\u003eCorriere della Sera\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A book written in two registers: on the one hand, pure noir, dramatically bound up with the story of Palermo, the city of a Mafia bloodbath in the 1980s, and on the other hand, a generational tale, young people chasing after their utopian dreams to the notes of Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake \u0026amp; Palmer.\" —\u003ci\u003eGiornale di Sicilia\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Four nested stories, like four movements of a symphony, where the allegro, the adagio, the grave, and the scherzo continually intermingle.\" —\u003ci\u003eIl Messaggero\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Written with...humor and sensitivity.” —\u003ci\u003eL’Espresso\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Pure adrenaline.” —\u003ci\u003eIl Tempo\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “In a bloody Palermo, the sexual revolution is threatened by mafia violence.” —\u003ci\u003eIl Sole 24 ore\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A generational portrait in four movements full of real people and strong sentiments.” —\u003ci\u003ePanorama\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “DiPiazza counts a war looked with disinterest by the rest of Italy.” \u003ci\u003e—Nuova Sardegna\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “In these stories marked by blood and love, the double soul of Sicily emerges with grace and passion.”\u003ci\u003e —Corriere Fiorentino\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “DiPiazza is to the novel as a velvet glove is to a Jaguar steering wheel.”\u003ci\u003e —Gioia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eGuiseppe Di Piazza\u003c\/b\u003e began his career in journalism in 1979 with the newspaper \u003ci\u003eL'Ora\u003c\/i\u003e. He has worked for such Italian publications as \u003ci\u003eSette\u003c\/i\u003e, where he was Director, and for \u003ci\u003eMax\u003c\/i\u003e as Editor-in-Chief. He teaches a Masters course in journalism at the IULM University of Milan and is currently an editorial director at \u003ci\u003eCorreire della Sera\u003c\/i\u003e. THE FOUR CORNERS OF PALERMO is his first novel and his English debut.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAntony Shugaar\u003c\/b\u003e is an author and translator. His most recent translations include AS IT IS ON EARTH by Davide Enia, \u003ci\u003eA Pimp's Notes\u003c\/i\u003e by Giorgio Faletti, \u003ci\u003eSwimming to Elba\u003c\/i\u003e by Silvia Avallone, \u003ci\u003eRomanzo Criminale\u003c\/i\u003e by Giancarlo De Cataldo, and \u003ci\u003eStory of My People\u003c\/i\u003e by Edoardo Nesi (Other Press). The author lives in Milan, Italy.","brand":"Other Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300241887461,"sku":"NP9781590516652","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781590516652.jpg?v=1767739407","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-four-corners-of-palermo-isbn-9781590516652","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}