{"product_id":"the-priests-hat-emilio-de-marchi-9781599104294","title":"The Priest's Hat","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Priest's Hat is a suspenseful, moving, and darkly funny tale loosely based on Count Alessandro Faella's murder of the priest Virgilio Costa in Imola in 1881. Against the background of late nineteenth-century Naples, the novel brings us the meltdown of an aging playboy, Carlo Coriolano, the last baron of a once-wealthy and powerful clan. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIl Barone\u003c\/em\u003e has squandered his inheritance and now can't support his extravagant tastes. He's been banned from his club and depends on his loyal, long-suffering housekeeper for pocket change. And if he doesn't repay an old loan, he'll soon be in jail. His solution is to lure to his crumbling, mortgaged ancestral estate, a greedy old priest, murder him, and then take possession of the priest's considerable riches. Of course, it all goes wrong, and the priest's hat takes us through a mirrored maze of guilt and self-deception as the baron attempts to maintain his equanimity and social position. A precursor of the Italian \u003cem\u003egiallo\u003c\/em\u003e genre, \u003cem\u003eThe Priest's Hat \u003c\/em\u003ewas first published in 1887 in installments. Echoing his contemporaries Dostoyevsky and Dickens, De Marchi intended this novel as an accessible yet literate exposé of contemporary Italian society with its culture of gossip, rumor, and superstition; of powerful gangs and clergy; of misleading new philosophies, a frivolous, inept and corrupt media, and an inequitable justice system.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst modern English translation of \u003cem\u003eIl cappello del prete\u003c\/em\u003e (1894).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction and notes. 192 pages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Emilio De Marchi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1599104296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781599104294\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Italica Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/22\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 194\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.87lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.56d","brand":"Emilio De Marchi","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48800426098943,"sku":"9781599104294","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-priests-hat-emilio-de-marchi-9781599104294","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}