The City of Falling Angels

By: John Berendt

Narrated by: Holter Graham

It was seven years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46%. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice--a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths. Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, marble ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are underway.

THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective--inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city-- while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking 'suicide' prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the First Family of American expatriates who lose possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, party-going Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning each other's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others--stool-pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.

Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding to the elements of chaos, corruption and crime, and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant audiobook.

Bonus feature includes an exclusive interview with the author!©2005 High Water Incorporated; (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

Funny, insightful, illuminating . . . [Venice] reveals itself, slowly, discreetly, under Berendt's gentle but persistent prying. —The Boston Globe

Berendt has given us something uniquely different . . . . Thanks to [his] splendid cityportrait, even those of us far from Venice can marvel. —The Wall Street Journal

Ah Venice!

Loved getting lost in the story of Venice!! I was transported to the lagoon listening to each of the stories!

City of Falling Angels

Great storyline, exciting plot. Fiction with historical references. Narrator interesting. If you love Venice, Italy and art history, you'll love this book.

Great Listen, especially if you have just visited Venice

Not the flashiest or most action-packed mystery, but quiet engaging listen of a beautiful and fascinating place. I read it nearly two decades ago and remember liking it then, and after finally getting the chance to visit Venice had to listen this time and was just as satisfied. Realized a lot of what I knew about operas I learned from this book. And if you do visit Venice be sure to visit opera house it’s beautiful. Actually doing the tour reminded me of this book.

Berendt does it again!

Great book !
Really loved the characters and the setting, it’s truly a magical place. Berendt captures the setting yet again!

great listening....

i really enjoyed this book...lots of history blended with present day scenarios...and its all true -
real names, places and events.