Ashley Chen Chen itibaren 2316 Jurišna Vas, Slovenia itibaren 2316 Jurišna Vas, Slovenia

This is a beautiful book and the translation by Archibald Colquhoun reads as though it were written in English. The story of the Prince and his family is wonderful in itself and the author paints the shifting of Sicilian society with great subtlety, so much so that it is hard to believe that this is the author's only book. I was particularly taken with Chapter Seven, 'Death of a Prince'. It reminded me of Tolstoy's Ivan Illytch and it was mesmerizing to read of Don Fabrizo's passing from the dying man's perspective. He takes an inventory of his life and is confused and dismayed: 'I'm seventy-three years old, all in all I may have lived, really lived, a total of two...three at the most.'