The Leopard is a novel by
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that chronicles the changes in
Sicilian life and society during the
Risorgimento. Published posthumously in 1958 by
Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the leading
Italian publishing houses
Mondadori and
Einaudi, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature. In 2012,
The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".