The Sect of Angels

By Andrea Camilleri

Based on a true story and told with the pacing, humor, and thrills of a Mediterranean mystery, Andrea Camilleri’s new novel tells of a turn-of-the-century Sicilian scandal that revealed a tendency that is with us still: the refusal to accept the truth.

The lawyer and journalist Matteo Teresi discovers the existence of a secret cult whose members are powerful politicians, priests, and celebrities. In 1901, at a time of immense changes in Sicilian society, the discovery causes a national scandal. But far from being hailed as a hero, Teresi is accused of disrupting the status quo. From the salons, churches, and social clubs of Sicily to the country’s highest courts, Camilleri’s novel is a fast-paced, funny, passionately rendered portrait of the machinations of power, of institutionalized corruption, church cover-ups, political scare tactics, fake news, and collective paranoia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Release date: Mar 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781787701755

Andrea Camilleri

Andrea Camilleri was one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers. The Inspector Montalbano series, which has sold over sixty-five million copies worldwide, has been translated into thirty-two languages and was adapted for Italian television, screened on BBC4. The Potter’s Field, the thirteenth book in the series, was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association’s International Dagger for the best crime novel translated into English. In addition to his phenomenally successful Inspector Montalbano series, he was also the author of the historical comic mysteries Hunting Season and The Brewer of Preston. He died in Rome in July 2019.

Reviews for The Sect of Angels

[persephoneslibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At the beginning of the 20th century a huge scandal takes place in a small village on Sicily: Several unmarried women suddenly get pregnant – all at the same time. A prefect of police is sent to the island for deeper investigations, but the clergy, the nobility and the Mafia build up a strong wall of silence. And they have already found a scapegoat: Matteo Teresi, a left-wing and liberal lawyer who wants to get all of them busted.That one was my first Camilleri novel and I don’t regret it at all. Although it deals with a dreadful topic, most of the book is fun to read. It’s a very entertaining crime novel based on true events. It contains social criticism - in a very witty way. As far as I can tell the translator did a good job. Don’t expect world literature, but it’s nice and not too undemanding – I read it in one go.