The Duke
Published on 4. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
468 pages
978-1-0686934-4-1 (ISBN)
Description
Outside Vallorgana, a tiny, isolated village high in the foothills of the Dolomites, the 'Duke' lives in the villa of his aristocratic ancestors. The last in the centuries' old line of the Cimamontes, he spends his days on his land and absorbed in the family archive, tolerated, if gently ridiculed by the villagers who are his neighbours. When he finds out that the village big man is taking timber from his land, he has a decision to make. Will he stay in his glorious, cerebral isolation or will he honour his ancestral blood and take action against this affront?
Matteo Melchiorre's portrait of the idiosyncratic character of the Duke and the world of Valorgana is a sweeping feat of literary imagination. With the pace, panorama and plot twists of a great nineteenth-century classic, the breathless story of the Duke's ensuing feud unfolds, asking some big twenty-first century questions about our relationships with privilege, the past, the natural world and each other.
Matteo Melchiorre's portrait of the idiosyncratic character of the Duke and the world of Valorgana is a sweeping feat of literary imagination. With the pace, panorama and plot twists of a great nineteenth-century classic, the breathless story of the Duke's ensuing feud unfolds, asking some big twenty-first century questions about our relationships with privilege, the past, the natural world and each other.
Reviews / Votes
With The Duke, Matteo Melchiorre has crafted a taut, epic tale about the madness of power, the laws of nature and individual freedom. This remarkable book makes us believe that some of the reasons why we still plough our way through novels might still be alive: the thirst for adventure, the chill of the mountains, a sense of greatness slightly beyond our reach. * La Lettura *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
Reading Age: 15 years, Interest Age: 15 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
463 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0686934-4-1 (9781068693441)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Matteo Melchiorre was born in 1981. After working as a researcher at the University of Udine, Ca' Foscari University, and the IUAV University of Venice, he has been the director of the Library of the Museum and Historical Archive of Castelfranco Veneto since 2018. His work focuses on the economic and social history of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, as well as the history of mountains and forests. The Duke is his first novel.