Leonardo San Pietro

A party in the hills of northern Italy descends into an outlandish rite of passage in this beguiling and intense international sensation.'SPELLBINDING' Vincenzo Latronico, author of PerfectionIt's the beginning of summer. Isa M., a literature student, is throwing a party at her family's villa on the outskirts of Turin. The music is loud, the drinks are flowing, and the garden is packed with friends - and maybe a few gatecrashers.
The only guest who hasn't arrived yet is Ezio, the boy she's falling in love with. Then an anonymous gift turns up on the kitchen table: a bottle of wine with a card that reads, Unless someone touches the cassowary before one a.m., Ezio dies. At first it seems like a prank. Except Ezio still isn't answering his phone. And no one's sure who brought the bottle. Or what, exactly, a cassowary is .