This book was Lampedusa’s only novel and was rejected by the first two publishers, it was subsequently published posthumously. The book follows Don Fabrizio who is an old-fashioned conservative prince. He rules his family firmly and generally gets his own way. But things are changing. It is 1860 and Garibaldi has landed in Sicily and is pushing inland. He is gaining support not only from the people but also from Don Fabrizio’s workers and from his nephew.

Ahead of the meeting, Billy shared some old holiday snaps from Sicily (one below) which really gave us a sense of the beauty of the island. So what were our thoughts on the novel?

“ The descriptive parts, holy smoke that’s quite an imagination” Hugh
“For me it was about Melancholy and things changing” Billy
“Why was there was no mention of how Garibaldi biscuits were made” Callum
We rated the Leopard 7/10

The Leopard is the story of the end of the Italian aristocracy, the abuses of the Catholic Church at the end of the 19th or early 20th century, and the love within a family.