The Story of San Michele - Axel Munthe

In writing 'The Story of San Michele', his extraordinary memoir, Axel Munthe captured, almost unwittingly, the spirit and feel of an era. Born in Sweden in 1857, Munthe trained to be a doctor in Paris at a precociously early age, establishing a fashionable practice (Maupassant and Strindberg were his patients) and quickly gaining an international reputation. He became the friend of royalty; Tsar Nicholas asked him to look after his son - Rasputin was their second choice. Moving to Southern Italy to work for the poor, he worked unstintingly during typhus, cholera and earthquake disasters. He also devoted himself to rebuilding the ruined Tiberian villa of San Michele on Capri. After publication of his memoir in 1929, it became an instant international bestseller, translated into more than 30 languages, with sales now numbering in the millions. An enchanting, original and invaluable story, it remains one of the best-loved books of this century. "'The Story of San Michele' has style, wit, humour, great knowledge of the world, mixed with that strange simplicity of mind that is often the attribute of genius." OBSERVER "Told with a power and an honesty which makes this a very remarkable document." TLS "One of the most fascinating of books, wise in its appraisal of men, overflowing with humour and edged with irony, sharper than a surgeon's knife. There are chapters which are veritable de Maupassant plots in their concise and dramatic realism." NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE.