The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni. Translated by Michael F. Moore

Not a page-turner, the historical novel unfolds over nearly 500 pages the travails of Renzo and Lucia, a young couple that earnestly desires to be married, amidst a background of Spanish occupation, plague, and famine in seventeenth century Lombardy. I promessi sposi is considered Italy’s great novel and it’s obligatory reading in Italian high schools where most students come to hate it. (Like The Catcher in the Rye in this country, it’s a book that’s taught too early for it to be fully appreciated.) While I read it in Italian, I’ve heard Michael F. Moore’s very recent translation is excellent.

But like Verdi’s most powerful works, it’s vast and choral while simultaneously intimate and personal. Manzoni leads you gently through the story with an eye for grace and kindness. Verdi, who dedicated his Requiem to Manzoni, was despondent at the extinguishing of a great liberal light — perhaps it behooves us to read Manzoni and remember why.