A New York Times bestseller by the author of Sophieβs Choice: Two Americans search for the truth about a mysterious long-ago murder in Italy.
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Shortly after World War II, in the village of Sambuco, Italy, two menβVirginia attorney Peter Leverett and South Carolina artist Cass Kinsolvingβcrossed paths with Mason Flagg. They both had their own reactions to the gregarious and charismatic movie mogulβs son. For the impressionable Peter, it was something close to awe. For the alcoholic Cass, it was unsettled rage. Then, after the rape and murder of a peasant girl, Masonβs body was found at the base of a cliffβan apparent suicide. Heβd been distraught, the authorities said, over committing such a heinous crime. Peter and Cass went their separate ways, and never spoke of it again.
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Now, years later, Peter is still haunted by what he knowsβand by what he doesnβt. Heβs sought out Cass in Charleston for closure, and something close to the truth. Together both men will share their tales of that terrible season in Italy, each with their own ghostsβand their own reasons to exorcise them. But neither Peter nor Cass is prepared for where this path of revenge, complicity, and atonement will take them.
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A profound exploration of the evil that men do, and what the innocent must endure to accommodate it, Set This House on Fire is more than a byzantine murder mystery, itβs βone of the finest novels of our timesβ from the Pulitzer Prizeβwinning author of The Confessions of Nat Turner, Darkness Visible, and other modern classics (San Francisco Chronicle).
Β This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.