The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox - Paperback

by Nina Burleigh (Author)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A compelling true-crime tale" (Elle) from an award-winning journalist about a murder in Italy and the controversial prosecution, wrongful conviction, and yearslong sentencing of Amanda Knox--featuring a new epilogue

"Clear-eyed, sweeping, honest, and tough . . . This is what long-form journalism is all about."--Tim Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time

The sexually violent murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, became a media sensation when Kercher's housemate, Seattle native Amanda Knox, and her Italian boyfriend were arrested and charged with the murder. The story drew an international cult obsessed with "Foxy Knoxy," a pretty honor student on a junior year abroad, who either woke up one morning into a nightmare of superstition and misogyny--the dark side of Italy--or participated in something unspeakable.

The Fatal Gift of Beauty is Nina Burleigh's literary investigation of the murder, the prosecution, and the conviction and twenty-six-year sentence of Knox. But it is also a thoughtful, compelling examination of an enduring mystery, an ancient, storied place, and a disquieting facet of Italian culture: an obsession with female sexuality.

Author Biography

Nina Burleigh is the author of Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, and Forgery in the Holy Land, A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer, and two other books. She has written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time and is a contributing editor at Elle. She has resided in France, Italy, and the Middle East and now lives in New York.