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A Sicilian Man
  • Published: 5 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784745035
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $75.00

A Sicilian Man

Leonardo Sciascia, the Rise of the Mafia and the Struggle for Italy’s Soul

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
3 Feb 2026
EBook
5 Feb 2026
Hardback
5 Mar 2026
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The rise of the Mafia and the story of its most vocal opponent, renowned Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia, expertly woven together by celebrated chronicler of European history Caroline Moorehead

Corruption, sleaze and violence were woven into the fabric of twentieth-century Sicilian life, as the Mafia rose to dominance. This is the story of one man who stood in opposition.

In 1986, the largest Mafia trial in Italy’s history took place in Sicily. The maxi-processo saw 471 men and 4 women take the stand, accused of kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and many thousands of murders. Sitting in the gallery was Leonardo Sciascia, then aged sixty-five. One of the greatest European writers of the twentieth century, he had published the first Mafia novel, The Day of the Owl, in 1961, and was widely seen by Italians as a true moral figure in a country where corruption had seeped into every corner of public and private life.

Sciascia was born in 1921 and came of age as the Mafia grew to prominence across Sicily. Widespread poverty and hardship following the First World War meant that many Sicilians no longer recognised Rome’s leadership, which had left a void for local gangsters to fill. Witnessing the scale of corruption and violence, Sciascia predicted it would soon spread north, and he was right: by the 1980s, the Mafia had infiltrated every level of Italian politics and grown into an international, highly successful business.

In A Sicilian Man, prize-winning historian and biographer Caroline Moorehead charts Sciascia’s life against the rise of the Mafia, and lays out the thrilling and devastating struggle that ensued for Italy’s soul.
  • Published: 5 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784745035
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $75.00
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About the author

Caroline Moorehead

Caroline Moorehead is a bestselling and prize-winning author, and the biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark, Iris Origo, Madame de la Tour du Pin and Martha Gellhorn. Her recent books – a quartet focused on resistance to dictatorship, particularly in Italy and France – were shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Orwell Prize and the Costa Biography Award. She lives in London.

portrait photo of Caroline Moorehead

Also by Caroline Moorehead

A Bold and Dangerous Family
A House in the Mountains
Edda Mussolini
Village of Secrets
Human Cargo
A Train in Winter
Dancing to the Precipice
See all

Praise for A Sicilian Man

Sciascia is the noblest of Italian novelists, and in this magnificent and deeply affecting biography, Caroline Moorehead has given a full account of him, his people, his island, his tragic times

PHILIP HENSHER, author of A Small Revolution in Germany

Vivid and knowledgeable... Caroline Moorehead has a profound understanding of Italy... This feels like the book she was destined to write

LUCY HUGHES-HALLETT, author of The Pike

The best non-fiction I read this year… fulfils its daunting task of giving a proper account of this great Sicilian writer, you will want to keep an eye out for it

SPECTATOR, *Books of the Year*

In Moorehead’s expert telling Sciascia emerges as a unique force and talent

Francesca Angelini, SUNDAY TIMES

Moorehead offers a fascinating portrait of Sciascia’s life and tumultuous times

Ian Thompson, SPECTATOR

Vivid and disturbing but utterly compelling

DAILY MAIL

Accomplished, balanced historical biography

LITERARY REVIEW

Few writers really make a difference. This is a handsome memorial to one who did

Oldie

In Caroline Moorehead, [Sciascia] finds his perfect biographer. A Sicilian Man is a fine book that gets under the skin of a man attempting to reckon with the sins of his count

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