Publisher's Synopsis
The Beati Paoli's unrelenting campaign to restore justice is
compromised by an act of betrayal and a plot that threatens its very
existence.
Set against the
backdrop of the island's increasing disillusionment with its new rulers
from Savoy and a yearning for the return of the formerly detested
Spanish monarchy, book two of Sicilian
Avengers continues as the future of the House of Albamonte
hangs in the balance and the survival of the Beati Paoli is
threatened.
Shifting allegiances, brutal
reprisals, tortures, and kidnappings occur as the Beati Paoli's efforts
to restore a usurped patrimony to its rightful owner is compromised by
an act of betrayal. As they race to complete their mission, they must
also thwart the diabolical plans of the villainous Don Raimondo and the
evil Matteo Lo Vecchio, and deal with the wavering loyalty of one of the
sect's newest recruits.
Blasco de
Castiglione finally discovers his true identity, which tests his sense
of justice, honor, and fidelity to the people he knows, trusts, and
loves: Duke Don Raimondo, whom he has pledged to protect; the beautiful
and alluring Donna Gabriella, who has captured his heart; his friend and
protector, the enigmatic Coriolano della Floresta; and the young and
naïve Violante, whose love is within reach yet out of bounds.
Translated
into English for the first time by Stephen Riggio, Luigi Natoli's saga
brings early eighteenth-century Palermo into vivid relief, where
Sicilian aristocrats enjoy their soirees and luxuries while the poor and
destitute scrounge for food in the dark and filthy streets. Nowhere is
the contrast more shocking and wrenching than in the scrupulous
depiction of the auto-da-fé.
Readers will
become immersed in a Sicily that is long gone but whose glorious and
troubled past echoes in these pages. As French critic Jean Noël Schifano
said, Natoli's novel is "the fifth historical monument of contemporary
Italian literature."
Book 2 of 2 includes an afterword by Umberto Eco.
