BOOK

On the day of his first communion, Ernest loses his parents, brother and sister in an accident. He renounces his early faith and is intent on revenge. Fourteen years later, a dying monk, Brother Rémy, asks him to continue pursuing the beatification of Sister Merita, a nun who died a martyr’s death in Africa and was the bosom friend of Ernest’s dead mother. Ernest sees in the task a chance to personally settle accounts with God.

In Rome Ernest is helped by Livio and his daughter Stefania. He stays in their dilapidated palazzo while the two of them try to get the case of Sister Merita through the complex Vatican bureaucracy. Ernest soon realizes that Livio and Stefania are cheating him and he plays along with them. But then, to everyone’s surprise, the case miraculously takes off: the nun’s name becomes widely known in Rome, a popular cult arises and the process of canonization gets completely out of hand.

In between the story of the journey to Rome that takes place in the summer of 1978, a certain P. writes letters to director Liv more than forty years later. In them he describes the sequel to the scenario, because he wants to write a film about Ernest’s experiences in Rome.

‘Santa Subito’ is a compelling tragicomic story with ingenious plot twists and colourful characters. With more than one wink to iconic Italian cinema, and in an accessible and expressive prose style, De Clercq brings the sultry Rome of the 1970s to life. Deploying laconic irony, the author hints at the power relations and hypocrisy inside the Vatican.

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