The Day of the Owl

The Day of the Owl

by Leonardo Sciascia (Author), Arthur Oliver (Translator), Leonardo Sciascia (Author), Arthur Oliver (Translator)

Synopsis

In the piazza, a man lies dead. No one will say if they witnessed his killing. This presents a challenge to the investigating officer, a man who earnestly believes in the values of a democratic and modern society. Indeed, his enquiries are soon blocked off by a wall of silence and vested interests; he must work against the community to save it and expose the truth.The narrative moves on two levels: that of the investigator, who reveals a chain of savage crimes; and that of the bystanders and watchers, of those complicit with secret power, whose gossipy, furtive conversations have only one end - to stop the truth coming out. This novel about the Mafia is also a mesmerizing demonstration of how that organization sustains itself. It is both a beautifully, tautly written story and a brave act of denunciation.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Publisher: Granta Books
Published: 02 Jan 2014

ISBN 10: 1847089259
ISBN 13: 9781847089250
Book Overview: A crime has been committed in a public place. A dark-suited man was shot as he ran for a bus. The investigating officer of the crime soon finds that, in this small Mafia-run town, no one saw him fall...

Author Bio
LEONARDO SCIASCIA was born in Sicily in 1912 and died there in 1989. Like Joseph Roth, Sciascia worked with deceptively simple forms - books about crime, historical novels, political thrillers - and was a master of lucid and accessible prose. This polished surface conceals great depths of sophistication and an intense engagement with the moral and historical problems of modern Italy, especially of his native Sicily. His books are rooted in a particular culture; they speak to anyone who has ever wondered how people can endure unbearable injustice.