A party in the hills of northern Italy descends into an outlandish rite of passage in this electrifying international sensation

It’s the beginning of summer. Isa M, a literature student, is throwing a party at her family’s villa on the outskirts of Turin. The music is loud, the drinks are flowing, and the garden is packed with friends – and maybe a few gatecrashers. The only guest who hasn’t arrived yet is Ezio, the boy she’s falling in love with.

Then an anonymous gift turns up on the kitchen table: a bottle of wine with a card that reads, Unless someone touches the cassowary before one a.m., Ezio dies.

At first it seems like a prank. Except Ezio still isn’t answering his phone. And no one’s sure who brought the bottle. Or what, exactly, a cassowary is… As the hours tick by – and the undergrads wade further into a heady mix of alcohol, drugs, jealousy, lust and dread – the gravity of the dare sinks in.

‘SPELLBINDING’ VINCENZO LATRONICO, author of Perfection

‘Psychedelic drugs, rival friends, a giant killer bird… I loved it’ RITA BULLWINKEL, author of Headshot

’Like locking eyes with a dangerous creature’ SEÁN HEWITT, author of Open, Heaven

‘Will have you itching to let loose with your friends just one last time’ TOBI COVENTRY, author of He’s the Devil

‘Absolutely gripping’ STEPHANIE DANLER, author of Sweetbitter

‘I downed this fizzy, bittersweet spritz of a novel in a single gulp’ ANDREW RIDKER, author of Hope

© Leonardo San Pietro 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027