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The Less Unkind
At the tender age of twenty-one, Pico’s world is one of linguistic puzzles and academic pursuits. A student at the University of Copenhagen, she is thrilled to get a summer job working for enigmatic antique dealer Antonio Bartram. When Antonio suddenly disappears leaving behind nothing but a series of cryptic messages, Pico decides to use her linguistic prowess to decode the clues – with fateful consequences. As Pico investigates, she uncovers a labyrinthine plot that stretches back decades to the theft of a priceless Caravaggio from a church in Sicily. Caught in the crosshairs of an obsessive art collector, a police murder investigation and a Mafia-sanctioned vendetta, her quest takes her across from the shadows behind the veneer of Copenhagen’s Nordic serenity, down the sun-kissed streets of the Italian Riviera, and even along the secretive corridors of the Vatican.
As she fights to uncover the truth and witnesses the lengths one will go to protect the secrets of the past, Pico confronts the moral quandaries that emerge when the pursuit of art eclipses the bounds of right and wrong.
As she fights to uncover the truth and witnesses the lengths one will go to protect the secrets of the past, Pico confronts the moral quandaries that emerge when the pursuit of art eclipses the bounds of right and wrong.
- GenresAudiobook
279 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2025
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2025
It is lovely to be on the blog tour for the debut novel by Rosaria Giorgio’s debut novel, The Less Unkind. Thank you to @midascampaigns for the gorgeous box. I loved the wooden box which held a note in a bottle with seashells, from the author inside the bottle, (I have no idea how they got that note in as I couldn’t get it back in with the string) there was also a bronze key inside, of which there is on the front cover of the book. Thank you very much for this, it was a lovely surprise.
I had never heard of the ‘Umbrella Assassin’ prior to to this, but it stems back in time to the murder of a Bulgarian Dissident, Giorgi Markov, who had defected to the United Kingdom, back in 1978, he had been stung by something when he was crossing London Bridge, four days later he passed away, he had reported a man with an umbrella, it was assumed he had been shot with a pellet containing ricin from the umbrella, (sounds like something from James Bond) but an attempt on another Soviet dissident had been tried earlier in Paris. Newspapers had reported that the hitman was possibly Italian, living a normal life in Denmark, posing to be an art dealer and had never admitted to be involved. The author had known this man!. There is also a picture of an umbrella on the front cover of the book.
Rosaria, had been an Italian student, studying in Denmark, and had gone to work for him, obviously not knowing anything about this man, despite him being the inspiration behind the book, the story is not about him. It is about the main protagonist Pico (which is based on Rosaria’s own experience whilst doing her job)
It’s 1994, the prologue introduce the reader to 21 year old, Tuscan, Pico della Rosa, she is a third year student, studying Scandinavian Literature at the University of Copenhagen, she had won a scholarship from the Danish government, her best friend Leo the first new friend she had made in the city, had told her he had a friend who was once a Catholic priest but was now an antique dealer, he was looking for someone to work part time in his warehouse, answering the phone, and other jobs, the place where she would work was a short walk from her landlady’s place. Antonio Bartram was the art dealers name, despite having no knowledge of art, Pico could speak a number of different languages. What Pico hadn’t known was that when Leo had recommended her to Antonio Bartram, he had studied her, watched her from afar, before he met her, he needed to be able to trust her. Pico is lodging with Suzanne a Danish lady she had met who had rented the property next door to her grandparents one summer. Pico had stayed in touch, when she won the scholarship she stayed at Suzanne’s house which had worked out well as Suzanne was away at times, and Pico could look after her cat Marcello. Leo lives on this same street, which was how she had met him.
When she meets, and begins working for Antonio, he begins to tell her about some of the pieces he has in the warehouse which is huge, she had thought it stopped where there was a mirrored wall what she hadn’t realised was there was more behind that, when a mirrored door opened. Antonio is a tall thin man, whenever he smiled or laughed it never showed in his eyes, they remained dull. There was a large collection of antique keys that he had shown her. She likes Antonio he is a good teacher, he explains that none of his clients came to his business, most of it was done on the phone, being good at languages was a bonus, she answers the phone several times to a mysterious Italian, Signor Catania, who demands to speak with Antonio. Is he a customer? He always seems very abrupt.
Pico accompanies Antonio to Sweden to attend an auction, even though they attend, Antonio doesn’t buy anything. But they go to a nearby bakery where she gets to meet Elsa. When Pico goes to the back of the restaurant to pick some bread she wants, she looks back at Rosa and Antonio and it looks like they are having words, is there more to the relationship?
It was on this same trip that Antonio told Pico of the stolen Caravaggio, ‘The Nativity,’ the painting had hung above an altar in Palermo, Sicily, but had been stolen in 1969, it was never recovered and was never seen again. It was assumed the mafia were involved. Antonio seems obsessed with this painting and the theft, why? It is when he goes away on a business trip, which he says will be two weeks, but two weeks later he isn’t back, he has left some cryptic messages. Pico believes it is something to do with the Caravaggio, that sees Antonio missing.
Being left to look after the warehouse herself, as she finishes university, Pico starts to investigate Antonio’s secrets, she manages to dig into bits of his past, the more she digs the more consumed she becomes, with Leo’s help she manages to open a safety deposit box being held locally, within the box is a photo, and an article, which just leads to more digging, she ends up travelling to Italy where she gets to spend time with some of her family, but also speaks to a retired police officer, who had worked the case of the stolen Caravaggio, she goes back to Malmo, where she speaks to Elsa who is one of the people in the photograph she has, her travels also take her to Rome, and the Vatican, where someone who knew Antonio wants to speak with her. who can she trust, Antonio’s creepy lawyer gives her some papers he wants translated. Then she goes to her last meeting place which is a villa that is secured like Fort Knox, in a pretty little town, known as Fiesole, this must be the home to top mafioso!.
Pico is putting her own life on the line looking for Antonio, hoping to find him still alive, there are so many secrets that she unearth’s, but Antonio seems to be the good guy, although there is a moral quandary, within her findings.
The whole story is told by the POV of Pico, who comes across as a reliable narrator, as she tells the story of Antonio, I found the pace pretty slow, as the reader gets to know Antonio, and as Pico starts to look for him, it is only late in the book I found the pace picked up a little. One thing I did find was I would love to visit Italy, and some of the other places so beautifully described. I loved Pico as a character, she seems to have no fear, as she searches for Antonio. Her friendship with Leo, who helps her at times, whom she always tells her where she will be, well almost, at times Leo is a sounding board, where she needs to tell him what she has found and where she is going next.
I had never heard of the ‘Umbrella Assassin’ prior to to this, but it stems back in time to the murder of a Bulgarian Dissident, Giorgi Markov, who had defected to the United Kingdom, back in 1978, he had been stung by something when he was crossing London Bridge, four days later he passed away, he had reported a man with an umbrella, it was assumed he had been shot with a pellet containing ricin from the umbrella, (sounds like something from James Bond) but an attempt on another Soviet dissident had been tried earlier in Paris. Newspapers had reported that the hitman was possibly Italian, living a normal life in Denmark, posing to be an art dealer and had never admitted to be involved. The author had known this man!. There is also a picture of an umbrella on the front cover of the book.
Rosaria, had been an Italian student, studying in Denmark, and had gone to work for him, obviously not knowing anything about this man, despite him being the inspiration behind the book, the story is not about him. It is about the main protagonist Pico (which is based on Rosaria’s own experience whilst doing her job)
It’s 1994, the prologue introduce the reader to 21 year old, Tuscan, Pico della Rosa, she is a third year student, studying Scandinavian Literature at the University of Copenhagen, she had won a scholarship from the Danish government, her best friend Leo the first new friend she had made in the city, had told her he had a friend who was once a Catholic priest but was now an antique dealer, he was looking for someone to work part time in his warehouse, answering the phone, and other jobs, the place where she would work was a short walk from her landlady’s place. Antonio Bartram was the art dealers name, despite having no knowledge of art, Pico could speak a number of different languages. What Pico hadn’t known was that when Leo had recommended her to Antonio Bartram, he had studied her, watched her from afar, before he met her, he needed to be able to trust her. Pico is lodging with Suzanne a Danish lady she had met who had rented the property next door to her grandparents one summer. Pico had stayed in touch, when she won the scholarship she stayed at Suzanne’s house which had worked out well as Suzanne was away at times, and Pico could look after her cat Marcello. Leo lives on this same street, which was how she had met him.
When she meets, and begins working for Antonio, he begins to tell her about some of the pieces he has in the warehouse which is huge, she had thought it stopped where there was a mirrored wall what she hadn’t realised was there was more behind that, when a mirrored door opened. Antonio is a tall thin man, whenever he smiled or laughed it never showed in his eyes, they remained dull. There was a large collection of antique keys that he had shown her. She likes Antonio he is a good teacher, he explains that none of his clients came to his business, most of it was done on the phone, being good at languages was a bonus, she answers the phone several times to a mysterious Italian, Signor Catania, who demands to speak with Antonio. Is he a customer? He always seems very abrupt.
Pico accompanies Antonio to Sweden to attend an auction, even though they attend, Antonio doesn’t buy anything. But they go to a nearby bakery where she gets to meet Elsa. When Pico goes to the back of the restaurant to pick some bread she wants, she looks back at Rosa and Antonio and it looks like they are having words, is there more to the relationship?
It was on this same trip that Antonio told Pico of the stolen Caravaggio, ‘The Nativity,’ the painting had hung above an altar in Palermo, Sicily, but had been stolen in 1969, it was never recovered and was never seen again. It was assumed the mafia were involved. Antonio seems obsessed with this painting and the theft, why? It is when he goes away on a business trip, which he says will be two weeks, but two weeks later he isn’t back, he has left some cryptic messages. Pico believes it is something to do with the Caravaggio, that sees Antonio missing.
Being left to look after the warehouse herself, as she finishes university, Pico starts to investigate Antonio’s secrets, she manages to dig into bits of his past, the more she digs the more consumed she becomes, with Leo’s help she manages to open a safety deposit box being held locally, within the box is a photo, and an article, which just leads to more digging, she ends up travelling to Italy where she gets to spend time with some of her family, but also speaks to a retired police officer, who had worked the case of the stolen Caravaggio, she goes back to Malmo, where she speaks to Elsa who is one of the people in the photograph she has, her travels also take her to Rome, and the Vatican, where someone who knew Antonio wants to speak with her. who can she trust, Antonio’s creepy lawyer gives her some papers he wants translated. Then she goes to her last meeting place which is a villa that is secured like Fort Knox, in a pretty little town, known as Fiesole, this must be the home to top mafioso!.
Pico is putting her own life on the line looking for Antonio, hoping to find him still alive, there are so many secrets that she unearth’s, but Antonio seems to be the good guy, although there is a moral quandary, within her findings.
The whole story is told by the POV of Pico, who comes across as a reliable narrator, as she tells the story of Antonio, I found the pace pretty slow, as the reader gets to know Antonio, and as Pico starts to look for him, it is only late in the book I found the pace picked up a little. One thing I did find was I would love to visit Italy, and some of the other places so beautifully described. I loved Pico as a character, she seems to have no fear, as she searches for Antonio. Her friendship with Leo, who helps her at times, whom she always tells her where she will be, well almost, at times Leo is a sounding board, where she needs to tell him what she has found and where she is going next.
March 9, 2025
I enjoyed this book immensely. Pico, the female protagonist, is a phenomenal character—headstrong, intelligent, and fiercely independent. I found myself wanting to be her and eagerly anticipating more of her adventures. The story is imbued with a playful sense of humor that shines even as the tension skyrockets.
One note about the locations described in the book. I loved the originality of the contrasting settings—the chilling atmospheres of Scandi noir in Sweden and Denmark, juxtaposed with the sun-drenched streets of the Italian Riviera, Florence, and Rome. Even the secretive, shadowy corridors of the Vatican make an intriguing appearance!
One note about the locations described in the book. I loved the originality of the contrasting settings—the chilling atmospheres of Scandi noir in Sweden and Denmark, juxtaposed with the sun-drenched streets of the Italian Riviera, Florence, and Rome. Even the secretive, shadowy corridors of the Vatican make an intriguing appearance!
February 17, 2025
The story begins at a leisurely pace, gradually introducing the main characters, but it soon accelerates as the mystery becomes increasingly intricate. The book offers stunning descriptions of both historical and contemporary locations and art. Let's not forget the fascinating science segment about Galileo, which was truly captivating. If you're as enamored with European cities, their cultures, art, and history as I am, this is the perfect book for you.
February 1, 2025
This is an intriguing story around the theft of a priceless work of art and the repurcussions it has over the years. A fascinating European adventure story full of linguistic clues and references to art and antiquities. An interesting read 4* from me
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews