The Nuns of Sant Ambrogio

Zusatztext International praise for Hubert Wolf’s The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio "Hubert Wolf [has] found something that! as they say on the Internet! will blow your mind." —Lev Grossman! Time "Hubert Wolf’s  The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio  offers a learned yet fascinating account of this incident. . . . Wolf! who found the records of this investigation in an unlikely corner of the Vatican archives! makes the most of his story." —Laura Miller! Salon "Professor Wolf retells this incredible story with a straight face. I hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. Solid German princess confronts vampy Italian nun with a cross in one hand and bottle of poison in the other. You couldn't make it up. It would make a great film."  —Marcus Tanner! The Independent "Hubert Wolf! a German papal scholar! deftly balances this juicy history with a raft of serious (yet accessible) research." —Kate Tuttle! Boston Globe "This story doesn’t roll back from the higher ground Wolf lifts it to; it continues forward! steamrolling the reader." —Peter Lewis! Barnes and Noble Review "This sordid tale of sexual indecency! false saints! and murder within a 19th-century convent in Rome has all the trappings of a good thriller. . . . Wolf ( Pope and Devil )! a professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Münster! adds detailed historical context and careful explanations to elevate this tale beyond sensationalism into a more serious study of a fascinating real-life melodrama." — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review! Book of the Week) "The long-hidden story of the ultimate convent scandal! masterfully retold. . . . Wolf has expertly recovered and retold this scandalous tale in all its gory! as well as bureaucratic! detail." — Kirkus “The discovery of the century straight from the Vatican archives. An absorbing story of abuse! murder! and false morals.” — Kurier “The gloomy intrigue that [Hubert Wolf] reveals in this extraordinary book! in which murders mingle with forbidden love in all the senses of the word! seems to verify the most overstretched commonplaces of the convent literature! from Diderot’s La Religieuse to de Sade’s Juliette .”  — Le Monde “The true story of an Italian nunnery in the nineteenth century contains all the ingredients of a thriller: the Inquisition! sex! poisoning! conspiracy! and hypocrisy.” — Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag “The way Hubert Wolf deduces insightful conclusions from the doubtlessly spectacular incidents in the nunnery is nothing but masterly.” — Die Zeit “Mysticism! sex! theology! murders . . . . It has all the ingredients of a good whodunit.” — La Vie Informationen zum Autor HUBERT WOLF! born in 1959! is a professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Muenster! Germany. He was honored with the Leibnizpreis of the German Science Society (DFG)! the Communicator Prize! and the Gutenberg Prize! and he was a fellow at the historical society in Munich. Prologue   “Save, Save Me!”   “Shortly after eight o’clock on Monday, July 25, the Archbishop of Edessa—sent by the Lord—finally came to me. There was no time for waiting; this was the one and only time to get saved. To him, I had to reveal everything and had to implore him to help me escape the convent as swiftly as possible. It all went well: my prayers were fulfilled, and I was understood.” These dramatic words were set down by Princess Katharina von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in a com- plaint she submitted to the pope in summer 1859. They were written barely five weeks after her escape from the convent of Sant’Ambrogio in Rome—or rather, after her cousin, Archbishop Gustav Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, managed to secure her release—and they describe the sensational conclusion to her adventure inside the wall...

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International praise for Hubert Wolf's The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio

"Hubert Wolf [has] found something that, as they say on the Internet, will blow your mind." -Lev Grossman, Time

"Hubert Wolf's The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio offers a learned yet fascinating account of this incident. . . . Wolf, who found the records of this investigation in an unlikely corner of the Vatican archives, makes the most of his story." -Laura Miller, Salon

"Professor Wolf retells this incredible story with a straight face. I hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. Solid German princess confronts vampy Italian nun with a cross in one hand and bottle of poison in the other. You couldn't make it up. It would make a great film." -Marcus Tanner, The Independent

"Hubert Wolf, a German papal scholar, deftly balances this juicy history with a raft of serious (yet accessible) research." -Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe

"This story doesn't roll back from the higher ground Wolf lifts it to; it continues forward, steamrolling the reader." -Peter Lewis, Barnes and Noble Review

"This sordid tale of sexual indecency, false saints, and murder within a 19th-century convent in Rome has all the trappings of a good thriller. . . . Wolf ( Pope and Devil ), a professor of ecclesiastical history at the University of Münster, adds detailed historical context and careful explanations to elevate this tale beyond sensationalism into a more serious study of a fascinating real-life melodrama." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review, Book of the Week)

"The long-hidden story of the ultimate convent scandal, masterfully retold. . . . Wolf has expertly recovered and retold this scandalous tale in all its gory, as well as bureaucratic, detail." - Kirkus

"The discovery of the century straight from the Vatican archives. An absorbing story of abuse, murder, and false morals." - Kurier

"The gloomy intrigue that [Hubert Wolf] reveals in this extraordinary book, in which murders mingle with forbidden love in all the senses of the word, seems to verify the most overstretched commonplaces of the convent literature, from Diderot's La Religieuse to de Sade's Juliette ." - Le Monde

"The true story of an Italian nunnery in the nineteenth century contains all the ingredients of a thriller: the Inquisition, sex, poisoning, conspiracy, and hypocrisy."
- Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag

"The way Hubert Wolf deduces insightful conclusions from the doubtlessly spectacular incidents in the nunnery is nothing but masterly."
- Die Zeit

"Mysticism, sex, theology, murders . . . . It has all the ingredients of a good whodunit." - La Vie

Product details

• Authors: Ruth Martin, Hubert Wolf
• Assisted by: Ruth Martin (Translation)
• Publisher: Knopf
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.10.2014
• EAN: 9780385351904
• ISBN: 978-0-385-35190-4
• Series: ALFRED A. KNOPF
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918