#RivetingReviews: Alice Banks reviews THE DUKE by Matteo Melchiorre, translated by Antonella Lettieri

When we first delve into the pages of Foundry Edition’s latest publication, The Duke, and become immersed in the eponymous narrator’s florid, somewhat pretentious voice, we could be forgiven for believing we are embarking on a story set sometime in the 19^th century. It soon becomes clear though, that our narrator is very much of the present day, and this wonderfully baroque voice is the perfect introduction to our idiosyncratic narrator, the Duke.

The Duke – actually a count – has been mockingly named this by his fellow inhabitants in Vallorgàna, a remote village nestling at the foot of the Dolomites. Whilst they have accepted his presence in the village, they have also ridiculed him and snubbed him because of his city origins and his privileged background. The Duke inherited his enormous house and its sprawling estate in his early twenties after his parents died in a plane crash, and the Cimamonte coat of arms and the entire family’s history and future now rest on his somewhat reluctant shoulders. Having sold off the rest of this father’s estate, he has been living off the vast funds left to him for ten years and spends his days pottering around his estate doing odd jobs, fixing up outbuildings, and working through the Cimamonte family archive.

The Duke is a solitary character; he keeps himself to himself and is very aware that there is something of a distance between himself and the rest of the villagers. The only person he considers a friend is Nelso Tabióna, an older, avuncular figure, who, whilst at first reluctant to pass on advice and act as the village sage, will not stop once he has started and, of course, always knows best. It is Nelso who comes to disrupt the Duke’s peaceful solitude one morning when he unexpectedly turns up at the house to inform him that someone has been felling trees in the Duke’s woods up on the mountainside. When the Duke finds out that it’s the village mogul, Mario, who is disputing the boundaries of the land for personal gain, he has to decide whether to let this slide and preserve his tranquillity, or fight against it in order to preserve his ancestors’ honour. What follows snowballs from a small dispute into a petty yet callous back and forth full of trickery and deceit, a back and forth that mushrooms and careers head first through the harsh depths of the mountain winter: a merciless battle that stretches out into a lush spring. This feud between neighbours is the driving force of the novel, one that ends in a shocking climax.

As the Duke battles his neighbour, he continues to work though his family archive. His main task is to transcribe the ancient codex containing his family chronicles from the 15^th century up to his grandfather’s death, a mammoth undertaking that leads him to ponder on the issues of inheritance, blood and privilege. As he philosophises on what it all means, we realise that the Duke is conflicted about where he has landed in the world It seems that in large measure he is meticulously combing through his family archives and chronicles in order to find some kind of redeeming aspect to his privilege and his family’s noble history – and so to lift the weight of the centuries of privilege and nobility bearing down on his shoulders.

Melchiorre’s ornate prose has been stunningly captured in Antonella Lettieri’s brilliant translation, one that truly sweeps the reader up into the drama of the feud and transports us straight to the beautiful but hostile village of Vallorgàna. Reading her gorgeous English rendition of Melchiorre’s novel truly did feel like being swept down the side of the mountain by an avalanche of drama and plot twists, wonderfully grandiose prose, and intimate reflections on what it means to inherit, and what that inheritance means for us. A brilliant, fun novel, that does not shy away from the big questions of our time.

Reviewed by Alice Banks

THE DUKE

Written by Matteo Melchiorre

Translated byAntonella Lettieri

Published by Foundry Editions (2025)

December 2025 #RivetingReviews titles are available to buy from bookshop.org.

Alice Banks is a translator from Spanish and French based in Madrid. She has translated authors such as Ali Zamir, Elizabeth Duval, Almudena Grandes and Cristina Araújo Gámir and is currently working on a co-translation of Lara Moreno’s latest novel, La ciudad, with Katie Whittemore (forthcoming with Open Letter). Her translation from the French of Anne Sénès’ Chambre double, is published in June 2025 with Orenda Books.

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