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Southern Italy, the 1980s. On a hot summer´s night under a full moon, far from the outlying neighbourhoods of a southern Italian metropolis, Clara stumbles naked, dazed, and bloodied down a major highway. When she dies no-one is able to say exactly how or why, but her brother cannot free himself from her memory or from the questions surrounding her death. The more he learns about her life and death, the more he uncovers the moral decay at the core of his family´s ascent to social prominence.

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Praise for Ferocity

"A family wrecked by patriarchal stranglehold; a daughter who both defends and defies her father; and the deep rottenness of a society that bends low to power...make this work biting social commentary as well as edge-of-seat reading...A rich and readable cautionary tale for strong-minded readers."
-Library Journal, starred review

"A mesmerizing exploration of failure, resilience, and profound, multifaceted loss."
-Kirkus

"This oblique kaleidoscopic approach allows the mystery to slowly and captivatingly resolve while offering a layered portrait of contemporary Italian life and the abuses of power that money can excuse."
-Publishers Weekly

"Complex, darkly absorbing and mysterious literary fiction [...] Lagioia´s prose-in Shugaar´s translation-depicts a family living far from the ease it projects; loyalties and betrayals painted in shades of gray; and a violently alive setting that plays off its characters."
-Booklist

"A deeply satisfying read all its own...A page-turner, sure, but smart, smart, smart."
-Words Without Borders
"It is a gripping tale of corruption, one that exposes the dark underbelly of Italian society, political double-dealing and the casual brutalisation of women."
-The Irish Times
"In a year of exceptionally good books, this hypnotic novel takes the cake. Ferocity weaves psychological realism, noir, suspense and domestic drama in a meaty, multifaceted work of fiction. A piercingly observed family saga, a chilling mystery surrounding an enigmatic female lead and a shrewd depiction of modern Italy-this book suceeds at every level."-BookRiot

"[I]ntricately planned...renders moral and political corruption´s rampant and universal prevalence."
-BOMB magazine

"This sumptuous [prose] [...] quickly wields allegory, social realism, domestic drama, and myth to create a layered and expansive novel."
-Chicago Review of Books

"A work of startling energy and structural precision, an ambitious novel whose linguistic brilliance is frequently at odds with the twists and turns of Michele´s quest for the truth."
-Financial Times

"[Ferocity] ticks all the boxes of a thriller while also being a masterfully written, baroque, many-faceted depiction of modern Italy."
-The Spectator

"Ferocity is a portrait of a family tragedy, but also at its heart explores two competing visions of humanity: one ferocious and deterministic, the other transcendent and free-willed."
-The Guardian

"Lagioia writes vividly and conjures up an atmosphere of menace with great skill."
-The Mail on Sunday

"Lagioia is one of the most interesting Italian authors alive today."
-Michele De Mieri, Domenica del Sole 24 Ore

"Lagioia brilliantly demonstrates the folly of his characters: rather than describing them from the outside, he constructs his narrative by oscillating unceasingly between past and future, premonition and regret."
-Emanuele Trevi, Corriere della Sera

"A story about family, about wealth, about Italians, about a humanity that is obscenely spent and confounded. A powerful, supremely well-crafted novel."
-Goffredo Fofi, Internazionale

"There´s something Balzacian about Ferocity (and something that puts one in mind of Franzen´s The Corrections). It digs beneath current events, inhabiting a zone that is more opaque and ambiguous than the nightly news."
-Paolo di Paolo, TuttoLibri

"Nicola Lagioia´s latest novel opens with a scene that is hypnotically, devastatingly beautiful."
-Massimo Onofri, Avvenire

"This novel reminds one of the Greek tragedies and those ineluctable questions about the relationship between choice and destiny."
-Luca Illetterati, Alias

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