Caroline Moorehead's new biography, A Sicilian Man, explores the life and legacy of Leonardo Sciascia, the Sicilian writer who spent decades warning Italy about the pervasive influence and violence of the Mafia. The book opens with the dramatic 1986 Palermo trial, where hundreds of Mafia bosses were finally brought to justice, a moment that vindicated Sciascia's lifelong campaign against organized crime.

Moorehead traces the roots of the Mafia through Sicily's history of colonization, poverty, and oppression, showing how distrust and insularity fostered the rise of criminal clans. Sciascia's novels, beginning with The Day Of The Owl, depicted a world where corruption reached every level of society, and justice was elusive.

The biography also paints a vivid portrait of Sicily itself, a land of beauty and hardship, and of Sciascia's own conflicted relationship with his homeland. Despite his desire to escape, he remained deeply tied to Sicily until his death in 1989. Moorehead's book offers both a compelling account of Sciascia's life and a broader history of Italy shaped by the shadow of the Mafia.