"Ricci belongs on the shelf reserved for writers such as Chatwin, Ondaatje and Flannery O'Connor." — Timothy Findley

Nino Ricci's first novel, Lives of the Saints (1990) was an internationally acclaimed masterpiece, spending a stunning 75 weeks on The Globe and Mail's best-seller list. In Canada it won the Governor General's Award and the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, in England the Betty Trask Award and the Winnifred Holtby Prize, and in France the Prise Contrepoint Madrineaux. Published in over a dozen countries, Ricci's novel "envelops the reader with magic and wonder page after page." (The News and Observer — U.S.)

Lives of the Saints is the first book of a trilogy, a dark epic of the immigrant experience that draws on some of Ricci's own experiences as an Italian-Canadian. The trilogy's second book, In a Glass House (1993), has been hailed as "a haunting, lyrical, intelligent coming-of-age novel" and a "genuine achievement" by The New York Times Book Review. The Times London called it "beautifully written and tireless in its pursuit of emotional truth." The third book of the trilogy, Where She Has Gone (1997), nominated for the prestigious Giller Prize, was praised as "a delicate and soulful novel" by Time Magazine. Books in Canada wrote that the novels in Ricci's trilogy "so amply demonstrate the author's tremendous talents that we would be foolish as readers not to follow him down whatever road he next chooses to follow."

The road Ricci has chosen leads to Testament, his highly anticipated fourth novel. "A story for the ages begins with the story of one man." Set in a remote corner of the Roman Empire at a moment of political unrest and spiritual uncertainty, Testament is the timeless story of how a holy man of enormous charisma and passionate belief alters forever the course of human history.

Provocative, intelligent and brilliantly executed, Testament brings a modern perspective to the greatest story ever told. It is Nino Ricci's most ambitious book to date, one that is certain to be delighted in, talked about, and even argued over.

Nino Ricci was born in Leamington, Ontario, to parents from the Molise region of Italy, and completed university studies in Toronto, Montreal, and Florence, Italy. He now lives in Toronto, where he writes full time. He is a past president of the Canadian Centre of International PEN, a writers’ human rights organization that works for freedom of expression.