The Witch of Napoli - Paperback

by Michael Schmicker (Author)

Italy 1899: Fiery-tempered, seductive medium Alessandra Poverelli levitates a table at a Spiritualist s ance in Naples. A reporter photographs the miracle, and wealthy, skeptical, Jewish psychiatrist Camillo Lombardi arrives in Naples to investigate. When she materializes the ghost of his dead mother, he risks his reputation and fortune to finance a tour of the Continent, challenging the scientific and academic elite of Europe to test Alessandra's mysterious powers. She will help him rewrite Science. His fee will help her escape her sadistic husband Pigotti and start a new life in Rome. Newspapers across Europe trumpet her Cinderella story and baffling successes, and the public demands to know - does the "Queen of Spirits" really have supernatural powers? Nigel Huxley is convinced she's simply another vulgar, Italian trickster. The icy, aristocratic detective for England's Society for the Investigation of Mediums launches a plot to trap and expose her. Meanwhile, the Vatican is quietly digging up her childhood secrets, desperate to discredit her supernatural powers; her abusive husband Pigotti is coming to kill her; and the tarot cards predict catastrophe. Praised by Kirkus Reviews as an "enchanting and graceful narrative that absorbs readers from the first page," The Witch of Napoli masterfully resurrects the bitter, 19th century battle between Science and religion over the possibility of an afterlife.Michael Schmicker is an investigative journalist and co-author of The Gift: ESP: The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People (St. Martin's Press). He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Author Biography

Michael Schmicker is an investigative journalist and nationally-known writer on scientific anomalies and the paranormal. He is the co-author of "The Gift, ESP: The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People" (St. Martin's Press (USA); Rider/Random House (UK). His first book, "Best Evidence," has emerged as a classic in the field of scientific anomalies reporting since its first publication in 2000. His writings also appear in three anthologies, including "The Universe Wants to Play" (2006); "First of the Year 2009" (2009) edited by former Village Voice writer Benj DeMott; and "Even the Smallest Crab Has Teeth" (2011). Victorian romance meets the Exorcist in his supernatural debut novel, "The Witch of Napoli" (2015), set in Italy and England in 1899. Michael began his writing career as a crime reporter for a suburban Dow-Jones newspaper in Connecticut, and worked as a freelance reporter in Southeast Asia for three years. He has also worked as a stringer for Forbes magazine, and Op-Ed contributor to The Wall Street Journal Asia. Michael has been a featured guest on national broadcast radio talk shows, including twice on Coast to Coast AM (560 stations in North America, with 3 million weekly listeners). He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.