The Curse of Pietro Houdini
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Publisher Description
'A brilliantly imagined World War II saga' Kirkus
‘A compellingly chaotic blend of art-heist thriller, wartime adventure, historical epic and coming-of-age drama’ Observer
‘Derek B Miller has crafted an ambitious, sometimes tricksy story full of colourful characters…darkly funny, readable and intelligent’ Times
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We will lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin our way to Napoli. We will trust no one but each other, and we will remember that in this place, at this time, there is no way to tell friend from foe.
The bombing of Rome in 1943 leaves fourteen-year-old Massimo orphaned and with no choice but to set out on a perilous journey to find his remaining family in Naples. A chance meeting with the mysterious and charismatic Pietro Houdini will deliver both of them to the doors of the monastery of Monte Cassino, a centuries-old haven of contemplation, learning and art.
But the abbey is in the path of the relentless Allied advance to Rome. Pietro and Massimo need a plan to survive the coming onslaught and that means out-manoeuvring the Germans who are as interested in the abbey's art collection as in the murder of two of their officers in the town below.
For their plan to work, they must dissemble, disguise, and outwit two armies using skills that Pietro has in spades, but as war edges ever closer, it becomes clear that Massimo is not without a surprise or two either...
The Curse of Pietro Houdini is a sweeping tale of resilience, hope and survival which is at once an action-packed adventure heist, an imaginative chronicle of forgotten history and a philosophical coming-of-age story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A man bent on saving art from Nazi pillagers changes the life of an orphaned Italian teen in the appealing latest from Miller (How to Find Your Way in the Dark). At 14, the unnamed narrator survives the August 1943 American bombing of Rome and is saved from a violent mob by Pietro Houdini, an artist in his late 50s, who names the narrator Massimo. They go to the Abbey of Montecassino, where Pietro's been entrusted to protect the art from the Nazis. He manages to hide three Titian paintings from the Germans, and in the midst of an attack from Allied Moroccans, he instructs the narrator to take the paintings to his professor friend in Naples. The reader learns from a prologue that the narrator's journey is successful. The pleasure is in discovering how the narrator makes it and in coming to know the characters, especially the charismatic Pietro, a man capable of developing a false rapport with the Nazis while hiding artworks from them and also acting fearlessly when trying to protect the narrator. Miller's historical adventure is worth the price of admission.
