I vicerè (The Viceroys)

"Federico De Roberto was Sicilian and he lived between 1861 and 1927. Another non-Catholic writer: he was against the church as a power. He wrote many books but this is my favourite. The title means ‘the viceroys’, because the Spanish were ruling in Italy and this is the story of a family called Uzeda di Francalancia. It is a sharp and cruel view of the family and they are all horrible people but very realistic. His analysis of this society is in a way cruel but realistic. This is a big strong novel. He is sincerely interested in the destiny of women. But never sentimental and never contemptuous. He understands how society is organised and feels pity for how the women were treated in that society. Even though he portrays also egoistic and violent women characters, some of them were victims and he understood that, which was unusual for a man writing at that time."