Lampedusa

by Steven Price

This story is set in Sicily.  It is set in approximately 1950.   It is about Guiseppe Lampedusa, the last Prince of Lampedusa.

I didn't realize that Sicily had a nobility class.

Guiseppe is nearing death, he has emphysema.  He has some respect in society by virtue of this hereditary title but most of the family lands have been sold or were destroyed in the war.  He and his wife are struggling financially. He and his wife have no children and he feels the family story and his legacy will die with him. He and his wife adopted the adult son of another family to pass on the family title but there will be little estate to pass on to him Guiseppe decides to write a novel loosely based on family history.

As part of the family estate the family own the island of Lampedusa but it appears to be abandoned and in the past was rumoured to house monsters.  Guiseppe has some young men around him who come to visit him so he can lecture them about world literature.  He enjoys doing this. 

One day he and some of the young men head off to one of the family's properties, an estate that became a monastery when two of his relatives became devout and became a priest and nun.  One or both of these people were sainted.  When they visit the monastery they find it is all in ruins.  Guiseppe had hoped it might be in decent shape so he could sell it to someone to run as a B and B.

When Guiseppe discovers how serious his illness is he is hesitant to tell his wife because he doesn't want to worry her.  When he does tell her several months later she is furious at him for not telling her sooner.  She stops talking to him.  They really seemed to love each other so I found this reaction of hers puzzling.

Once Guiseppe's book is written he elicits the help of a cousin who is a poet to help convince a publisher to publish it.  His book is rejected.  It is not clear but I suspect the cousin did nothing to champion his cause, perhaps being jealous of him having success.

After he dies Guiseppe's adopted son gets the book published and it becomes a best-seller.  Guiseppe will not know it but he has indeed secured his place in history, at least literary history, with the book.

From my description this may not have seemed to interesting but I really enjoyed the book.  I loved the authors language and the characters.