The Fatal Gift of Beauty

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.