In the hand of Dante

By Nick Tosches

Subjects: Collectors and collecting, Literature, Sicily (italy), fiction, Manuscripts, Fiction, mystery & detective, general, Authors, fiction, Criminals, Theft, Fiction, Fiction, thrillers, general, Fiction, psychological, New york (n.y.), fiction, Authors

Description: Deep inside the Vatican library, a priest discovers the rarest and most valuable art object ever found: the manuscript of "The Divine Comedy," written in Dante's own hand. Via Sicily, the manuscript makes its way from the priest to a mob boss in New York City, where a writer named Nick Tosches is called to authenticate the prize. For this writer, the temptation is too great: he steals the manuscript in a last-chance bid to have it all. Some will find it offensive; others will declare it transcendent; it is certain to be the most ragingly debated novel of the decade.