Book
The Charterhouse of Parma
First published 1839
Young Fabrizio del Dongo rejects his reactionary family and crosses into France to join Napoleon during the Hundred Days. Confused for a spy and barely understanding the battle around him, he stumbles through Waterloo before returning to northern Italy, where his aunt Gina and her ally Count Mosca protect him from the consequences of his recklessness.
Gina and Mosca secure Fabrizio a church career at the court of Parma, but his affairs, a fatal encounter and the prince’s hostility lead to imprisonment in the Farnese Tower. There he falls in love with Clelia Conti, the governor’s daughter, while Gina plots his escape and the court’s rival factions turn his fate into a struggle over power, loyalty and revenge.
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