In the dark heart of Sicily, Fabrizio, the formidable Prince of Salina, rules over his kingdom. Known as "The Leopard", his power extends from the opulent drawing rooms of Villa Salina to his vast acres of land, and some say even to the stars themselves.But in the year 1860 change is in the air. With Garibaldi's red shirts marching towards Palermo, and Fabrizio's own upstart nephew defecting to the cause, the family matriarch is faced with a choice. To hold on to the noble, crumbling institutions of old or welcome in a new Italy?Exquisite in detail and told in a magisterial new translation, The Leopard is an ode to the last days of the Sicilian aristocracy, mercilessly capturing the decadence and decay of a social class faced with its own extinction.