The House by the Medlar Tree

Written in 1890, this book contains an introduction by W.D. Howells. Italian novelist, Verga abandoned the study of law for literature and wrote several novels of passion in the style of the French realists. His later works, written in a different style, are marked by simplicity and strict accuracy. They deal with the Sicilian middle class, and sympathetically treat the poverty and struggles of the peasantry. Verga’s technique gave rise to the term ‘verismo’, denoting the realistic school. He is considered one of the outstanding writers of modern Europe and has been compared with Flaubert and Zola. His novel, The House by the Medlar Tree , is a story of infinite beauty, tenderness and truth.