The Marquis of Roccaverdina

A masterpiece of Italian literature, The Mariquis of Roccaverdina (1901) is at once the best and most representative opus of the Sicilian veristi (naturalists), who wrote in the late nineteenth century. An engrossing and moving story, the novel is a psychological tour de force, which analyzes the life of a Sicilian aristocrat forced to choose between his passion for a beautiful peasant woman and the demands of a moribund social structure that preclude his marrying below his station. Attempting to resolve the dilemma, he makes a decision that leads to a life tortured by jealousy, guilt, and self-recrimination.