Palace of Memory: The Secret to King Roger of Sicily's Pleasure Garden

What is the secret of King Rogers pleasure garden?Dr Roberto Balducci a retired archaeologist is invited to Palermo by an elderly marchesa to take charge of the papers of her late husband Don Francesco di Valenti. He arrives to discover that the Don has spent his life researching a pleasure garden known as La Favara once the country retreat of the twelfth-century King Roger of Sicily. The marchesa wants to discover whether her husbands untimely death is in some way linked to the kings.Dr Balducci finds himself seduced by Don Francescos obsessions. La Favara begins to reveal its secrets. Reading the Dons notebooks and exploring the citys archives he uncovers letters documents that reveal the full extent of the activities which occurred at La Favara during King Rogers reign. It is none other than a garden of the mind.Palace of Memory by award-winning author James Cowanexplores the way our memory become the servant of fact. Through Balduccis eyes we are brought face-to-face with the constraints of thought when it is solely in their service. Walking along the dream-like avenues of La Favara is to finally break with the tyranny of the real as men from the past parade along its sunlit avenues.