By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

Set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento; the unification of Italy, 'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. The Prince realises his family's best hope of surviving Garibaldi's plans lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

Abridged in five parts across New Year's Day, The Leopard is a masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode Two: Tancredi visits.

Reader...Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery Show less