In Sicily

In 1964, Norman Lewis wrote "The Honoured Society", one of the very best books about Sicily and the Mafia. Here, he looks back on his half-century-long fascination with all things Sicilian. It is his fascination with the Mafia that pervades the book, but he writes too of landscape and language, and of Sicily's changing sexual mores.

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In 1964, Norman Lewis wrote "The Honoured Society", one of the very best books about Sicily and the Mafia. In 1998, he returned to the island and in this book he looks back on his half-century-long fascination with all things Sicilian. It is his fascination with the Mafia that pervades the book, but he writes too of landscape and language, of Sicily's changing sexual mores, of the effects of African immigration (not least in the field of prostitution), of his memories of Danilo Dolci, of Palermo and its ruined palaces - and of strange superstitions, of witches and exorcism and murder.