Bringing his unrivaled expertise as the former CEO of Barnes & Noble, author Stephen Riggio has translated this Italian historical crime epic into English for the very 1st time In retirement, the former CEO of Barnes & Noble - STEPHEN RIGGIO - kept up his interest in the book world, but in a very different way! He took on the extraordinary task of translating a major Sicilian novel from Italian into English! The books are called: LUIGI NATOLI’S SICILIAN AVENGERS: A Novel (Books 1 and 2). They recount the tale of a secret sect that was purported to be the forerunners to the mafia!! It was written in Italian and now available in English – thanks to the translation by Riggio. For over 40 years, Riggio was a key leader in transforming the single flagship New York Barnes & Noble location into a national retailer that expanded into e-commerce and book publishing. When he retired, one of the many activities that kept him busy was to take Italian classes with his wife. Riggio is Italian. Their teacher mentioned the Sicilian historical novels and from then on – Riggio made it his mission to translate the historical novel. Told across 2 gripping installments, SICILIAN AVENGERS is a tale of history and adventure, love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, suffering and retribution, as thrilling as ALEXANDER DUMAS’s THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and as riveting with the intrigue and treachery depicted in HILARY MANTEL’s WOLF HALL. With meticulous attention to historic events and topographic details, SICILIAN AVENGERS transports readers to a turbulent period of the island’s history, when the pomp, magnificence, and unfettered power of the aristocracy reached new heights, amid the power struggles between France, Spain, and Savoy, and when residents were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church’s dreaded Inquisition and subjected to horrific tortures. And it plunges readers into an enthralling depiction of a secret sect purported to be a proto-manifestation of the Mafia.