THE MARCHESA

Simonetta Angelo Hornby (Penguin, £7.99)

Translations often struggle to do well in Britain. English has almost become the international language, so we can enjoy an embarrassment of riches. I think La Marchesa, published in translation by Penguin, will be an exception.

As a child, growing up near Agrigento in Sicily, the author met Giuseppe di Lampedusa, the author of The Leopard, one of the world's greatest novels. She writes likes his heir but despite coming from a similar background assumes none of his social conceit. Her first book, The Almond Picker, with a plot which unwound like a gossamer thread, was translated into 18 languages. Her third novel in Italian, Boccamurata (Sealed Lips) was released in January and became an instant, controversial bestseller in the country of her birth.

Angelo Hornby is a brilliant storyteller and so La Marchesa is not difficult to read. The depths of her experience both in Sicily and England mean this historical drama, set in the years after the annexation of Sicily to Italy, is subtle and perceptive. There is nothing superficial about the author or her writing. Her delicious descriptions delicately paint a world which, like that of The Leopard, has almost vanished.

The author says the real-life Marchesa was maligned by Pirandello and she hopes that her portrayal of this remarkable woman will change perceptions. Constanza Safamita, daughter of Baron Domenico Safamita, is a precious but unusual child. Red-haired (rare in Sicily) awkward and shy, she is cruelly rejected by many on the family estate. She becomes sole heir to the Safamita fortune and everything changes both for herself and for the estate.

The author was recently interviewed on Radio 4's Woman's Hour about incest, the subject of Boccamurata. The other reason she was invited is her 20 years' legal experience representing children and their families in South London, where she moved from Kennington some years ago.