{"product_id":"alfa-romeo-1300-and-other-fabio-bartolomei-9781609450830","title":"Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA raucous debut novel of organized--and unorganized--crime. \"A story that takes itself unseriously enough to be funny\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e, \"This Week's Hot Reads\").\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDiego is a forty-something car salesman with a talent for telling half-truths. Fausto sells watches over the phone. Claudio manages (barely) his family-owned neighborhood supermarket. The characteristic common to each of these three men is their abject mediocrity. Yet, mediocrity being the mother of outrageous invention, they embark on a project that would be too ambitious in scope for any single one of them, let alone all three together. They decide to flee the city and to open a rustic holiday farmhouse in the Italian countryside outside Naples.\u003cbr\u003eTheir misconceived endeavor would have been challenging enough for these three unlikely entrepreneurs, but when a local mobster arrives and demands they pay him protection money, things go from bad to worse. Now their ordinary (if wrongheaded) attempt to run a small business in an area that organized crime syndicates consider their own becomes a quixotic act of defiance.\u003cbr\u003eA \"miraculous\" Italian comedy that will have readers laughing out loud, \u003cem\u003eAlfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles\u003c\/em\u003e marks Fabio Bartolomei's vivid debut. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An entertaining and humorous debut.\"--\u003ci\u003eLa Repubblica\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A melancholy yet hopeful fable told with a smile.\"--\u003ci\u003eInternazionale\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Left the kind of smile on my face that doesn't go unnoticed and which people often mistake for a kind of facial paralysis.\"--Valentina Aversano, \u003ci\u003eSetteperuno\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Fabio Bartolomei\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1609450833\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781609450830\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Europa Editions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/30\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.30w x 1.10d","brand":"Fabio Bartolomei","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47930851852543,"sku":"9781609450830","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_047a14b9-ce4c-4b70-b142-4b9c4faf1f31.jpg?v=1766344713","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/alfa-romeo-1300-and-other-fabio-bartolomei-9781609450830","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}