By Member Ian Pendleton
The Leopard is a tale of an ageing aristocrat, Don Fabrizio Cordera who heads his princely household in 1860’s Sicily as Garibaldi’s forces threaten the overthrow of the old order.
He is a family man who cares little for his wife or children, who torments the family priest and who tolerates the petty thieving of his servants.
The novel charts a key moment in the decline of the Don’s family, told by the author Giuseppe di Lampedusa, the last member of the family.
The Leopard is full of eccentric behaviour, political intrigue and family drama. Members enjoyed the brooding Don, were encouraged to brush up on Italian history at the time of its reunification, and were inspired to consider a trip one day to Sicily.
Scores out of 10 ranged from 5 (‘at times too flowery’) to 8.5 (‘memorable and great’). Three-word summaries included ‘Sicilian Nobility Erodes’, ‘Love, Death, Politics’ and ‘Leopard Rolls Over’.
In June the Book Club will discuss Kate Atkinson’s modern classic, Life After Life.
All Members are welcome, RSVP to events@tattersallsclub.org.
Blurb
On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath.
On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.
Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can – will she?
