The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox

The sexually violent murder of twenty-one-year-old British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia Italy on the night of November became an international sensation when one of Kercherrsquos housemates twenty-year-old Seattle native Amanda Knox as well as her Italian boyfriend and a troubled local man Knox said she ldquovaguelyrdquo knew was arrested and charged with the murder The Fatal Gift of Beauty is award-winning author and journalist Nina Burleighrsquos mesmerizing literary investigation of the murder the controversial prosecution the conviction and twenty-six-year sentence of Knox the machinations of Italian justice and the underground depravity and clash of cultures in one of central -Italyrsquos most beloved cities When Perugia authorities concluded that the murder was part of a dark twisted ritemdasha ldquosex gamerdquomdashled by the American with an uncanny resemblance to Perugiarsquos Madonna they unleashed a media frenzy from Rome to London to New York and Seattle The story drew an international cult obsessed with ldquoFoxy Knoxyrdquo a pretty honor student on a junior year abroad who either woke up one morning into a nightmare of superstition and misogynymdashthe dark side of Italymdashor participated in something unspeakable The investigation begins in the old stone cottage overlooking bucolic olive groves where Kercherrsquos body was found in her locked bedroom It winds through the shadowy arched alleys of Perugia a city of art that is also a magnet for tens of thousands of students who frequent its bars clubs and drug bazaar on the steps of the Duomo It climaxes in an up-close account of Italyrsquos dysfunctional legal system as the trial slowly unfolds at the townrsquos Tribunale and the prosecutionrsquos thunderous final appeal to God before the quivering girl defendant resembles a scene from the Inquisition To reveal what actually happened on that terrible night after Halloween Nina Burleigh lived in Perugia attended the trial and corresponded with the incarcerated defendants She also delved deeply into the history secrets and customs of Perugia renowned equally for its Etruscan tunnels early Christian art medieval sorcerers and pagan roots The Fatal Gift of Beauty is a thoughtful compelling examination of an enduring mystery an ancient storied place and a disquieting facet of Italian culture an obsession with female eroticism It is also an acute window into the minds and personalities of the accused killers and of the conservative Italian magistrate striving to make sense of an inexplicable act of evil But at its core is an indelible portrait of Amanda Knox the strangely childlike enigmatic beauty whose photogenic face became the focal point of international speculation about the shadow side of youth and freedom.