The Marchesa

A richly evocative tale of a woman''s struggle for life and loveA triumphant follow-up to Simonetta Agnello Hornby''s internationallyacclaimed The Almond Picker this entertaining new novel is an intricate family saga interwoven with violent passions cruelty deceit and the abuse of power. The Marchesa is an eyeopening historical drama about a remarkable woman and her extraordinary family and the complex often abusive relations that mark the lives of master and servant brother and sister husband and wife.Costanza Safamita beloved daughter of Baron Domenico Safamita is a precious but unusual child. Redhaired gawky and shy she is considered an outsider by many on the family estate but her adoring father makes her sole heir to the Safamita fortune and then everything changes—for them and for her. Now she must conquer glittering alien Palermo—where uncertain of her future she falls in love with a charming dissolute young marchese whose sexual appetite she fears she cannot satiate.The Marchesa''s brave unusual story offers an unprecedented woman''s perspective on the incestuous hypocrisy of the Sicilian aristocracy during a dramatic time in its history as the Bourbon monarchy collapsed the Mafia rose to power and Palermo''s decadent aristocracy began its inevitable decline. These themes are flawlessly woven into the fabric of Costanza''s triumphant life so that The Marchesa becomes not only an unforgettable human tale but a masterly fresco of a vanished world.