About the Author

John Julius Norwich was the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestseller Absolute Monarchs. He began his career in the British foreign service, but resigned his diplomatic post to become a writer. He was a chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund and the honorary chairman of the World Monuments Fund. John Julius Norwich died in 2018.

Reviews

“Suavely readable . . . The very model of a popular historian, [John Julius Norwich] writes to give pleasure to the common reader. And what pleasure it is. . . . Even by European standards, Sicilian history is a crazy-quilt affair, and the nearly 3,000 years of it covered by Mr. Norwich—from the founding of the first Greek colonies in the eighth century B.C. through World War II—feature a ‘Who’s Who’ of powers, dynasties and civilizations.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Entertaining on every page . . . There is something ancient and sorrowful in Sicily, ‘some dark, brooding quality,’ just as captivating as its spellbinding history or its beautiful and varied landscapes, from beaches to lemon groves, pine forests to volcanoes. . . . The most amiable and freewheeling of guides, Norwich will always find time for the amusing anecdote.”—The Sunday Times

“Utterly engrossing . . . written with passion about the art and architecture of this magical island, filled with gossipy tidbits and sweeping historical theories.”—The Daily Beast
 
“Dazzling . . . Norwich is an elegantly graceful and entertaining storyteller.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“Charming . . . richly nuanced history relayed with enormous fondness.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“A brisk and always-lively tour.”—Open Letters Monthly 

“Norwich is deeply in love with Sicily. [His] boundless affection has inspired a determined effort to understand its painful past. The result is impressionistic, as love often is.”—The Times

“Sicily’s political history is full of so much turbulence it’s sometimes hard to keep track of the battles, murders and successions, but Norwich sketches personalities vividly: Emma Hamilton, for example, a glamorous former courtesan whose celebrated affair with Nelson began in Sicily; or Salvatore Giuliano, ‘Sicily’s most notorious but . . . best-loved bandit.’ Norwich calls this book his ‘valediction’ to Sicily: he does the island and the reader a generous service in providing such an amiable introduction.”—The Sunday Telegraph
 
“Norwich tells [Sicily’s] long, sad but fascinating story with sympathy and brio.”—Literary Review