It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
The Leopard

The Leopard

Discover the breath-taking historical classic

Summary

The Leopard is a modern classic which tells the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution.

'There is a great feeling of opulence, decay, love and death about it' Rick Stein

In the spring of 1860, Fabrizio, the charismatic Prince of Salina, still rules over thousands of acres and hundreds of people, including his own numerous family, in mingled splendour and squalor. Then comes Garibaldi's landing in Sicily and the Prince must decide whether to resist the forces of change or come to terms with them.

'Every once in a while, like certain golden moments of happiness, infinitely memorable, one stumbles on a book or a writer, and the impact is like an indelible mark. Lampedusa's The Leopard, his only novel, and a masterpiece, is such a work' Independent

INCLUDES RECENTLY DISCOVERED NEW MATERIAL

'Perhaps the greatest novel of the century' L.P. Hartley

'The poetry of Lampedusa's novel flows into the Sicilian countryside...a work of great artistry' Peter Ackroyd

Reviews

  • There is a great feeling of opulence, decay, love and death about it
    Rick Stein

About the author

Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more