The city of falling angels / John Berendt.
Material type: TextPublication details: New York : Penguin Press, 2005.Description: 414 p. ; 25 cmISBN:- 1594200580
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 945.31 B488 | Available | 33111004841330 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns after a decade to offer, in his inimitable style, an intimate look at the magic, mystery, and decadence of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
Map of Venice on endpapers.
Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, marble ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are underway. This book opens in 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house, a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective--inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city--while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. He introduces us to a rich cast of characters, Venetian and expatriate, in a tale full of atmosphere and surprise which reveals a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif, adding elements of chaos, corruption, and crime and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense.--From publisher description.