The Author

Leonardo Sciascia was born in Sicily in 1912 and died there in 1989. A master of lucid and accessible prose, Sciascia worked with deceptively simple forms – books about crime, historical novels, political thrillers – in order to engage with the moral and historical problems of modern Italy, especially his native Sicily. His books are rooted in a particular culture but speak to anyone who has ever wondered how people can endure unbearable injustice. Equal Danger was made into the film Illustrious Corpses by Francesco Rosi.