From the Dagger Award–winning author of Norwegian by Night comes a vivid, thrilling, and moving World War II art-heist-adventure tale where enemies become heroes, allies become villains, and a child learns what it means to become an adult—for fans of All the Light We Cannot See.
August, 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is all alone. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey's shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed "Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican," rescues Massimo and brings him up the mountain to serve as his assistant in preserving the treasures that lay within the monastery walls.

But can Massimo believe what Pietro is saying, particularly when Massimo has secrets too? Who is this extraordinary man? When it becomes evident that Montecassino will soon become the front line in the war, Pietro Houdini and Massimo execute a plan to smuggle three priceless Titian paintings to safety down the mountain. They are joined by a nurse concealing a nefarious past, a café owner turned murderer, a wounded but chipper German soldier, and a pair of lovers along with their injured mule, Ferrari. Together they will lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin their way through battlefields to survive, all while smuggling the Renaissance masterpieces and the bag full of ancient Greek gold they have rescued from the "safe keeping" of the Germans.

Heartfelt, powerfully engaging, and in the tradition of City of Thieves by David Benioff, The Curse of Pietro Houdini is a work of storytelling bravado: a thrilling action-packed adventure heist, an imaginative chronicle of forgotten history, and a philosophical coming-of-age epic where a child navigates one of the most enigmatic and morally complex fronts of World War II and lives to tell the tale.

We need your support!
Make a donation to help us stay online
        
Bitcoin (BTC)
bc1q08g9d22cxkawsjlf8etuek2pc9n2a3hs4cdrld
	
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
qqvwexzhvgauxq2apgc4j0ewvcak6hh6lsnzmvtkem

Ethereum (ETH)
0xb55513D2c91A6e3c497621644ec99e206CDaf239

Litecoin (LTC)
ltc1qt6g2trfv9tjs4qj68sqc4uf0ukvc9jpnsyt59u

USDT (ERC20)
0xb55513D2c91A6e3c497621644ec99e206CDaf239

USDT (TRC20)
TYdPNrz7v1P9riWBWZ317oBgJueheGjATm