Fall of the Florios: A Novel
By (Author) Stefania Auci
Translated by Katherine Gregor
Translated by Howard Curtis
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
HarperVia
14th February 2025
10th October 2024
United States
General
Fiction
Historical romance
Historical fiction
853.92
Paperback
416
Width 135mm, Height 203mm, Spine 24mm
311g
The epic saga behind the Disney-produced Hulu series The Lions of Sicily
The magnificent third installment of the Florio storya sweeping, decadent, and romantic finale that tells the story of Italys most powerful and notorious family as it faces its dramatic end.
After triumph and brilliance, the Sicilian Lions enter their fall . . .
Glory is fleeting, fate sometimes cruel. For more than sixty years, the Florios have reigned supreme, establishing the city of Palermo as a European beacon of commerce, and making Sicily one of Italys most powerful regions. But now fate has taken a turn. As social and economic pressures erode the stability of a young Italy, the Floriosdespite their wealth and powermust watch as their iron grip over the South begins to weaken.
Following in the steps of the father he idolized, Ignazzidu, now Don Ignazio, finds himself commanding the Florio familys interests and enterprises. Negligent, impetuous, and headstrong, he is everything his industrious father was not. But while he struggles to live up to the family name, his charming and loyal wife Franca rises to the occasion. A gracious and formidable host, Francas hospitality becomes unmatched across Europe, informally crowned the Queen of Palermo as she holds court with an esteemed coterie of luminaries from the womanizing Puccini to the scandalous Boldini.
Yet as the tides of fortune change economic hardships, war, and human loss- their relationship will be put to the test and Franca will find that even a love as devoted as hers may falter. But the biggest threat to their survival is the death of an heir. In losing the flesh of his flesh, Ignaziowho succeeded his father without the strength or conviction to do sowill ultimately oversee the collapse of an empire built by his familys ambition, cunning, and sweat.
What kind of future will the Florios have now Will anything remain of their greatness
Translated from the Italian by Katherine Gregor and Howard Curtis.
Stefania Auci, a Trapani-born, Palermo-adopted teacher, has been writing for literary blogs and on-line publications for a long time. She is the author of two popular women's fiction novels for Harlequin Mondadori and of the historical novel Florence, published in 2015 by Baldini e Castoldi.