Author Description

About Bellarion the Fortunate Bellarion the Fortunate is a work of literary fiction by Italian-British author Rafael Sabatini, first published in 1926. ‘The mischief began—and you may account it symbolical—by his losing his way. This happened a mile or two beyond the township of Livorno. Because the peace of the riverside allured a mind that for seventeen years had been schooled in peace, because the emerald meadows promised to be soft and yielding to his feet, he left the dusty highway for the grassy banks of Po. Beside its broad waters winding here about the shallow, pleasant hills of Montferrat, Bellarion trudged, staff in hand, the green hood of his cape thrown back, the long liripipe trailing like a tail behind him, a tall, lithe stripling of obvious vigour, olive-skinned, black-haired, and with dark eyes that surveyed the world bold and fearlessly.’ Against the backdrop of pre-Renaissance Northern Italy, a young Bellarion sets out on a journey from the monastery at Cigliano to join the priesthood and the cloistered life at Pavia, when he is unexpectedly diverted and finds himself in the service of Princess Valeria. The practical lessons and life experience he acquires gradually replace the formal education he once desired, and the narrative follows the protagonist as he is transformed from an artless convent-raised youth into a soldier of remarkable strength, skill and cunning. Bellarion the Fortunate is a perfect blend of action, romance, and political intrigue, and cameo appearances of real historical figures lend the story an authentic flair. Best known for his swashbuckling adventure novels, including Captain Blood and Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini was an immensely prolific author whose novels have been adapted for film.