ABOUT
THE BOOK

When a Senegalese pedlar, Abdou Thiam, is accused of kidnapping and murdering a nine-year-old boy, Francesco Rubino, it looks like the verdict is a foregone conclusion. The boy disappeared one afternoon while playing football on his own in front of his grandparents’ villa in the popular seaside resort of Monopoli, to the south of Bari. Two days later his body was found down a well, twelve miles north, in the countryside near Polignano. The local police have gathered the evidence, including a local barman who says he saw the pedlar at the scene, and all fingers seem to point to Abdou Thiam.
Defence lawyer, Guido Guerrieri, is called in to fight this hopeless case and he soon realises he has a mammoth task on his hands. Faced with small-town racism fuelled by the recent immigration from Africa, Guido attempts to exploit the esoteric workings of the Italian courts. Gradually he finds a way through the judicial process, and bit by bit he cleverly turns the case in his favour.