{"product_id":"party-with-cassowary-leonardo-san-pietro-9798217208500","title":"Party with Cassowary","description":"\u003cb\u003eA college party in the hills of northern Italy descends into a harrowing and outlandish rite of passage. Like the beguiling bird at its center, \u003ci\u003eParty with Cassowary \u003c\/i\u003edares its characters--and its readers--to confront something dangerous, inscrutable, demanding to be touched. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Surprising and spellbinding.\" --Vincenzo Latronico, author of \u003ci\u003ePerfection\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's the beginning of summer. Isa M., a second-year lit major, is throwing a party at her family's lavish villa on the outskirts of Turin. The music is loud, the prosecco is flowing, and the garden is packed with friends--and maybe a few gate-crashers. The only guest who hasn't arrived yet is Ezio, the boy she's falling in love with. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThen an anonymous gift turns up on the kitchen counter: a bottle of Barbera with a card that reads, \u003ci\u003e Unless someone touches the cassowary before 1am, Ezio dies.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt first it seems like a prank. Except Ezio still isn't answering his phone. And no one's sure who brought the bottle. Or what, exactly, a cassowary is. (Or why the neighbors are keeping one in the surrounding woods!) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs the hours tick by--and the undergrads wade further into a heady mix of alcohol, drugs, jealousy, lust, and dread--the gravity of the dare sinks in. Shifting among a chorus of students (including a Tarot reader, a would-be philosopher in a parka, a perennial tag-along who's been exiled from the group chat, and a shy artist from Puglia caught up in the night's seductive chaos), \u003ci\u003eParty with Cassowary\u003c\/i\u003e captures the precarity of early adulthood with piercing wit and a generous heart. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWinner of Italy's Premio Mondello, with rights sold in thirteen countries, Leonardo San Pietro's debut is an existential thriller and a magnetic, mannerist portrait of a generation crippled by the weight of desire and decision.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Leonardo San Pietro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798217208500\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/19\/2027\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.50d","brand":"Leonardo San Pietro","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48801417887999,"sku":"9798217208500","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/party-with-cassowary-leonardo-san-pietro-9798217208500","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}