A romance with Friar Matthew, from The English Monk. By combining astonishing narrative skill with perfect historical documentation, Valeria Montaldi has become one of the leading names in Italian literature. A critical success—she received the prestigious Selezione Bancarella, Ostia Mare di Roma, Frignano, and Città di Cuneo awards—she also delights readers: with thousands of copies sold, her books quickly reach the top of the lists. Her main character, Friar Matthew, introduced to Brazilians in The English Monk, is often compared to William of Baskerville, from The Name of the Rose, for his richness and complexity. In THE LORD OF THE HAWK, another adventure of the friar, Valeria takes us to 13th-century Milan, where inquisitors roam the streets and heretics are ruthlessly hunted. During this turbulent religious period, the corpse of a young woman, showing signs of recent childbirth, appears in the waters of the Vettabbia canal. But there are no clues as to the whereabouts of the supposed child. Seventeen years later, Arnolfo da Sala, abbot of the monastery of San Simpliciano, tormented by a recurring dream and harboring long-held suspicions known only to him, tasks Friar Matthew with investigating the case. Through places still recognizable today, such as Broletto, the city's political and commercial center, the Quadronno forest, or the Brolo hospital, Matthew intertwines the stories of Isaac, a Jewish doctor, and his beautiful daughter, Raquel. But only his encounter with Guglielma, a seer persecuted by the church, will indelibly mark the monk's conscience, pointing the way forward to fulfill his mission and solve the mystery. Set in medieval times, THE LORD OF THE FALCON transports the reader to a world suspended between reality and fantasy, without necessarily revealing where one gives way to the other.
