Gianrico Carofiglio
La misura del tempo (The Measure of Time)
A novel, Einaudi Stile Libero, November 2019, 286 pages

N°1 bestseller

Premio Strega 2020 finalist

“A fast paced, precise, suspenseful story that makes the reader want to run to the end with voracity.” Diego De Silva, La Stampa

“Carofiglio seems in a state of bliss. And he’s got every reason to be.” Antonio D’Orrico, La Lettura

“This book wipes out the distinction between legal thriller and literary novel. It’s just a good story very well told.” Dario Olivero, La Repubblica

“Guerrieri is a wonderfully convincing character.” The Times

“Italy’s best exports now include number-one bestselling writer Gianrico Carofiglio.” Gay Talese

“Guido Guerrieri is wonderful company on late-night walks through the city of Bari, Italy, brooding on lost loves and misspent lives.” The New York Times 

“Carofiglio’s insights into human nature – good and bad – are breathtaking.” Jeffery Deaver

One spring afternoon lawyer Guido Guerrieri finds an unexpected fragment of the past in his office. Of course, Lorenza has changed a lot. When they first met, more than twenty years ago, she was a charismatic, ambitious and seductive girl who wanted to become a writer and seemed ready to take on the world. Things took different turn. The years have had an impact on her face, her body, her temper. As if that weren’t enough her son Jacopo, a small-time delinquent, was convicted of first-degree murder. During the trial, the alibi she offered for her son was discredited. So, in the new trial, she turns to Guerrieri as her last hope. Guido does not have a good memory of her, of the way she treated him, of how their relationship ended. Moreover he isn’t convinced of Jacopo’s innocence. However, perhaps to make a melancholy tribute to his lost youth, he decides to accept the case. And so he begins, almost unwillingly, an exciting journey into the depths of justice and its potentially lethal pitfalls. A surprising investigation back and forth across the dangerous border between truth and mere verisimilitude. His old friend Carmelo Tancredi, a retired police inspector, and charming investigator Annapaola Doria are once again by his side.

Between surprising nights at the Osteria del Caffellatte and heart-to-heart talks with Mr. Sacco – the punching bag he works out with every evening – Guerrieri realizes that this time, in court, it will take more than just a brilliant defense.

A masterful novel. Writing at once unrelenting and full of compassion, striking a balance between the trial story – the purest distillation of human experience – and the sad notes of time as it passes and exhausts itself.

“If he wasn’t guilty of that murder, and I can’t imagine how, then it would be such a combination of unfortunate circumstances as to give you the chills.”

Gianrico Carofiglio

Gianrico Carofiglio was born in Bari and has worked for many years as a prosecutor specializing in organized crime. He was appointed advisor of the anti-Mafia committee in the Italian Parliament in 2007 and served as a senator from 2008 to 2013. He is the author of the novels featuring the character of the defense lawyer Guido Guerrieri: Testimone inconsapevole (Involuntary Witness, 2002), Ad occhi chiusi (A Walk in the Dark, 2003, Best International Noir of the year 2007 in Germany), Ragionevoli dubbi (Reasonable Doubts, 2006), Le perfezioni provvisorie (Temporary Perfections, 2010, Premio Selezione Campiello), La regola dell’equilibrio (A Fine Line, 2014), La misura del tempo (The Measure of Time, 2019, Premio Strega 2020 finalist). Officer of the Carabinieri Pietro Fenoglio is the protagonist of another series of novels: Una mutevole verità (A Shifting Truth, 2014, Premio Scerbanenco), L’estate fredda (The Cold Summer, 2016), La versione di Fenoglio (Fenoglio’s Version, 2019).
Among his fiction works: Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Land, 2004, Premio Bancarella 2005), adapted into an internationally awarded film, Né qui né altrove (Neither Here Nor Elsewhere. A Night in Bari, 2009), Non esiste saggezza (There is No Wisdom, 2010, 2020), Il silenzio dell’onda (The Silence of the Wave, 2011, finalist for Premio Strega 2012), Il bordo vertiginoso delle cose (The Vertiginous Edge of Things, 2013), La casa nel bosco (The House in the Woods, 2014), written with his brother Francesco, Passeggeri notturni (Night Passengers, 2016), Le tre del mattino (Three O’Clock in the Morning, 2017), La disciplina di Penelope (Penelope’s Discipline, 2021) and Rancore (Resentment, 2022). Among his non-fiction books: La manomissione delle parole (Manumitting Words, 2010), Con parole precise (With exact words, 2015), Con i piedi nel fango (Feet in the Mud, 2018), Della gentilezza e del coraggio (On Kindness and Courage, 2020), La nuova manomissione delle parole (2021) and L’ora del caffè (Coffe Time, 2022). Many titles are also audiobooks, read by the author. In 2020 was released L’avvocato Guerrieri, Gianrico Carofiglio’s first audio-series. He has a podcast with his daughter Giorgia, called Coffee for Two. Gianrico Carofiglio’s multi-award winner and best selling books are translated into 27 languages worldwide.

Download here Gianrico Carofiglio rights catalogue.

 

Guido Guerrieri novels

Pietro Fenoglio novels

Penelope Spada novels

Novels

Short stories collections

Essays

“A fast paced, precise, suspenseful story that makes the reader want to run to the end with voracity.” Diego De Silva, La Stampa

“Carofiglio seems in a state of bliss. And he’s got every reason to be.” Antonio D’Orrico, La Lettura

“This book wipes out the distinction between legal thriller and literary novel. It’s just a good story very well told.” Dario Olivero, La Repubblica

“Guerrieri is a wonderfully convincing character.” The Times

“Italy’s best exports now include number-one bestselling writer Gianrico Carofiglio.” Gay Talese

“Guido Guerrieri is wonderful company on late-night walks through the city of Bari, Italy, brooding on lost loves and misspent lives.” The New York Times 

“Carofiglio’s insights into human nature – good and bad – are breathtaking.” Jeffery Deaver

Foreign rights sold in
Arabic language world rights: Al Arabi
Germany: Goldmann
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia: Imprimatur
UK and US: Bitter Lemon Press

 

Italian and international editions

Foreign publishers of Gianrico Carofiglio’s works
Albania: Fjala
Argentina: El Ateneo
Australia and New Zealand: Text Publishing
Austria: Folio Verlag
Bosnia: Buybook
Brazil: Editora Jaboticaba
Czech Republic: Host
Denmark: HR Ferdinand
Ethiopia: Soomaalyia
Finland: Kustannus Moreeni
France: Payot e Rivages, Seuil, Slatkine
Germany: Goldmann, Folio Verlag, Scoventa
Greece: Alexandria, Modern Times
Israel: Achuzat Bayit Books
Japan: Bungei ShunJu
Kenya: Soomaalyia
Lithuania: Homo liber
Mexico: Urano
The Netherlands: Prometheus
Poland: W.A.B. Foksal
Portugal: Porto Editora
Romania: Leda
Russia: Inostranka
Serbia: Clio Publishing
Somalia: Soomaalyia
Spain (Castilian): Urano, La Esfera de los Libros, Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Edicions 62
Sweden: Schibsted, Forum
Switzerland (French): Slatkine
Tanzania: Soomaalyia
Turkey: Neden Kitap
Uganda: Soomaalyia
UK: Bitter Lemon Press, Old Street Publishing
US: Thomas Dunne, Rizzoli International
Vietnam: Nhã Nam

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