[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [faqs] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [contact us]
|
The
2004 Award
|
|
|
Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Edition: |
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
|
ABOUT
THE BOOK
|
|
Deep
in the lowest reaches of the Vatican library, a secret chamber is opened
for the first time in centuries. Inside it is an object of inestimable value:
the manuscript of The Divine Comedy, written in Dante's own hand. The priest who finds this treasure spirits it away to his home in Sicily, where it comes into the grasp of more worldly parties. And so in New York a few weeks later, a sometime writer, sometime thief named Nick Tosches gets a phone call from a friend. There's an item he wants him to look at, a manuscript that needs authentication. Tosches recognises the pages for what they are - and embarks on the most harrowing adventure of his life. As this story unfolds, so too does a parallel tale: the odyssey, seven hundred years ago, of Dante himself a man trying to weave out of the grossness of his own humanity a poem that contains the sum of the world's wisdom and the very breath of the divine. It is a struggle every bit as deadly as, centuries later, that between the individuals fighting to possess his manuscript. In the Hand of Dante is a work of astounding audacity and beauty, combining Nick Tosches's vast scholarship about the Middle Ages with an intimate knowledge of the most degenerate lowlifes of New York's toughest streets. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Nick Tosches was born in Newark, USA. He taught himself classical Greek, Latin and medieval Italian and has devoted much of his life to the study of Dante. Tosches is the author of many books, including the novels Cut Numbers and Trinities, biographies of Dean Martin (Dino), Jerry Lee Lewis (Hellfire), the infamous Sicilian financier Michele Sindona (Power on Earth), and Sonny Liston (The Devil and Sonny Liston). His most recent book is The Last Opium Den. He is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and lives in New York City. |
 |
[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [faqs] [contact us]
Copyright
© 2011 Dublin City Public Libraries
