Giuseppe Di Lampedusa's The Leopard draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina - set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento: the unification of Italy.

An irresistible giant of a man whose hands are like paws and who makes the ground tremble when he rises to his feet, the Prince is clear-eyed, intelligent and languid, aptly represented by the leopard on his coat of arms.

Don Fabrizio is about the business of preserving what remains of his family’s feudal power in a period of political turmoil. He realises their best hope lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

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

Omnibus of the first five of ten parts: The Prince and his family are assembling for dinner. Read by Alex Jennings

Translated by Archibald Colquhoun
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2020 Show less