The award-winning author of the Inspector Montalbano series explores the political intrigue of seventeenth-century Sicily in this novel based on true events.

Sicily, 1677. Just before his death, the viceroy of Spanish-controlled Sicily names his wife Doña Eleonora as his successor. The Holy Royal Council is scandalized by the thought of a woman running the government, and its corrupt councilors will do everything in their power to make her a viceroy in name only. But Eleanora has other plans-and proves herself to be far more cunning and capable than her many adversaries.

In a land afflicted with poverty and misery, Eleonora successfully lowers the price of bread, reduces taxes for large families, reopens women's care facilities, and establishes stipends for young couples wishing to marry-measures considered to be seditious by the city fathers and the Church. But while she outmaneuvers the powerful men in her path time and time again, Eleonora's rule would last only twenty-seven days-one cycle of the moon.

Based on a true story, author Andrea Camilleri's gripping and richly imagined novel tells the story of a woman whose courage and political vision is tested at every step by a corrupt and ruthless patriarchy.