The House of Scorta

"Gaude writes in a courtly language with...almost hypnotic rhythm. Iconoclasts, schoolchildren included, will probably love it." -- Sunday Telegraph "Gaude writes in an elegiac, lyrical style, the simplicity of the prose matching the timelessness of his message." -- Sunday Business Post Recipient of France's most prestigious literary award, the Goncourt Prize, Laurent Gaude's The House of Scorta spans five generations of infamous crimes, forsaken loves, and lifelong secrets. The saga of the Scortas opens in 1870 with Rocco Scorta Mascalzone, the bastard product of a rape and a notorious scoundrel whose legacy the family is forced to confront. While their lineage seems doomed to struggle, the Scortas are blessed with an imposing pride and a relentless faith in their own power. Besides a little tobacco shop they manage to open with their years of savings, their wealth all but lies in their memories and their collective belief in the pursuit of happiness. Gaude's omniscient, linear narrative is interwoven with the recollections of the old Carmela as she delivers her last confession to the family priest, exposing the family's deep-buried secret. Laurent Gaude found inspiration for The House of Scorta in his wife's family story and through his extensive travels in Italy. He is an accomplished playwright whose first novel, The Death of an Ancient King, was published in almost twenty countries. Reader Daniel Oreskes is an experienced Broadway and off-Broadway actor whose film and television credits include The Thomas Crown Affair, The Sopranos, and Law and Order. Reader Barbara Caruso was named a "Voice of the Century" by AudioFile Magazine