Sicilian Avengers

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

na?ve 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-f?. 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 No?l Schifano

said, Natoli's novel is "the fifth historical monument of contemporary

Italian literature." Book 2 of 2 includes an afterword by Umberto Eco.