| Description |
414 pages ; 25 cm |
| Summary |
"In The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he can. The story opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a sensational fire destroys the historic Fenice Opera House. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians, made worse by the revelation that arson might have been the cause. Arriving three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective - inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable city while gradually revealing the truth about the fire." |
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"In the course of his investigations, Berendt encounters a rich cast of characters: a hard-as-nails prosecutor who blushes when he's angered; a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking "suicide" prompts his friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the First Family of American expatriates facing the loss of their palace on the Grand Canal after four generations of ownership; an organization of party-going, high-society Americans busily raising money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling among themselves, questioning each other's motives, and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter known locally as an outrageous prankster and provocateur; a twenty-first-generation master glassblower whose sons are locked in a dynastic war; and numerous others - pigeon trappers, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, a believer in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man of Treviso, and Henry James."--BOOK JACKET |
| Notes |
Map of Venice on endpapers |
| SUBJECT |
Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85142718
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Venice (Italy) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79018142 -- Social life and customs. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2001008851
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| LC no. |
2005047661 |
| ISBN |
1594200580 |
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