This 1,000-plus-page novel is based on an infamous crime that rocked Rome in the 1970s. A bestseller in Italy for 22 weeks now, the novel is currently #8 on the Corriere Della Sera list. The author, who was classmates with three boys convicted of murdering two young girls, uses the crime to explore masculinity, the Catholic church, and youth.
Book title: La Scuola Cattolica / The Catholic School
First published by: Rizzoli on March 17
Format: Hardcover
Author: Edoardo Albinati is a screenwriter who also teaches at the Rebibbia prison in Rome. In his screenwriting career he's worked with such noted Italian directors as Matteo Garrone (Tale of Tales) and Marco Bellocchio (Dormant Beauty).
Acquiring Editor: Michele Rossi, Rizzoli's Italian fiction editor-in-chief
How It’s Done: Rossi said The Catholic School has been hailed in Italy as one of the most important novels of the year; in July it won an Italian literature award, the Premio Strega. Although the novel is one of the longest titles to be released in Italy this year (at 1,294 pages), this fact has not deterred readers. According to Rizzoli, 50,000 copies have sold since the book was released. Foreign rights sales have closed in Holland (Atlas Contact) and Spain (Penguin Random House/ Lumen).
Why It’s Working: Written over a period of nine years, the novel, Rossi said, taps into the author's proximity to the infamous case it depicts. This fact has undoubtedly piqued readers' interests. The case the book references, the so-called “Massacro del Circeo,” is an infamous one in Italy in which three boys from wealthy families were convicted of murdering two girls. Albinati was a school peer of the trio that was convicted and, in the book, explores how and why these boys became murderers.
