Synopsis:
Murder, love, betrayal, and some of the world's most beautiful objets d'art come together in Juan Manuel de Prada's tempestuous, prize-winning novel set in Europe's quintessentially enigmatic city: Venice. Alejandro Ballesteros, a young Spanish art historian, arrives in wintry Venice to study Giorgione's painting "The Tempest," but on his first day there, he witnesses a shocking murder and is propelled into a dangerous web that brings together the city's rarified academic world and a master forger. Exploring the boundaries between art and reality, intellect and passion, The Tempest is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel by one of Spain's most gifted new writers.
Review:
'A dark, gripping work about emotions, repressed feelings and lives wasted and refound' Coventry Evening Telegraph
Richly decadent...a highbrow whodunnit that revolves around the mysteries of authenticity and authorship, aesthetics and obsession...plot is never sacrificed to theme,and the novel can be easily devoured. Yet, above all, this is a novel enraptured by Venice...Here is a place that serves as a graveyard to the monuments of its own desires, and in de Prada there is a voice that is equal to such a haunting lament. (Sunday Express)
'Richly decadent...a highbrow whodunnit that revolves around the mysteries of authenticity and authorship, aesthetics and obsession...plot is never sacrificed to theme,and the novel can be easily devoured. Yet, above all, this is a novel enraptured by Venice...Here is a place that serves as a graveyard to the monuments of its own desires, and in de Prada there is a voice that is equal to such a haunting lament.' Sunday Express
The Tempest defies categorisation and should enjoy broad appeal' (Financial Times)
A beautifully written, quietly compelling work, in which two mysteries - one criminal, the other artistic - slowly merge (Sunday Telegraph)
'A dark and gothic tale that overwhelms the reader with foreboding from the outset. Against the stinking canals, rotting backstreets and gangrenous palaces of the stinking city, de Prada has weaved a unique murder story shot through with poetic fetishism. The eroticism that permeates de Prada's Venetian journey makes this book a high contender for potential cult status. Quite a read. Evening Herald, Dublin
'A murky tale of mystery and subterfuge that mimics the dark pull of the canals and the foundering glory of Venice...The Tempest defies categorisation and should enjoy broad appeal' Joanna Clarke-Jones, Financial Times
'both engrossing and amusing and deserves to make the author, if not a bestseller, than at least a permanent member of W H Smith's crime section' Doncaster Free Press
'A sophisticated and elegantly written literary thriller...sensuous and involving' North London Weekly Herald
'Murder, theft, forgery, love and all manner of intrigue are woven into this allegorical coming-of-age.' The Good Book Guide
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
