Phoenix: Princes Under the Volcano: Two Hundred Years of a British Dynasty in Sicily

by Raleigh Trevelyan

Epic and engrossing, this extravagant true story covers 200 years in the life of an English family dynasty in Sicily. The first half, as the author wryly notes, is mostly about the people who made the money; the second half follows those who spent it. The saga begins with Benjamin Ingham, England's greatest tycoon ever, and a confidante of the high and mighty. He died childless, his money going to his four nephews--and their tale encompasses everything from the Italian aristocracy to Mussolini to the mafia. Simply fascinating.

531 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Born in the Andaman Islands in 1923, Trevelyan moved to England at the age of eight when he was sent to school there. He became an author after a brief career in merchant banking and now lives in London and Cornwall.

Reviews

[M.G. Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

If your name is Trevelyan, you'd better be a good historian, and there is no disappointment in that department. I must declare an interest, in that one of my 19th century cousins plays a cameo role in this wonderful story of the British domination of the Sicilian marsala trade, and completely coincidentally I was taken to tea at one of the Whitakers' English country houses when I was about 20, and long after they had ceased to live there. But I don't think it has biassed me, except into reading the book in the first place. One of the charms of the book is that its story is somehow disconnected in time and place from the grand events that dominated European history. It is a secret garden, or let us say, decorated bridge, between Il Gattopardo and Osborne, and you can float on it very happily, belief suspended for as long as you wish. And with 550 pages, that is quite long. Not a criticism: there isn't a word too many. Just one recommendation: make sure you get in a case of marsala when the book arrives, and try to finish them together. You won't regret it.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another COVID read or really reread because I first read (and owned though my copy is long gone) back in the 1980s. The book is fascinating for two reasons:

1. The story of the creation of a great family fortune by an Englishman, in Sicily, in the time preceding the Napoleonic Wars. That he created a dynasty that remained 'English' but also part of Sicilian society is....

review in process of being written forgive premature posting.