"The Leopard" has been called the "Gone with the Wind" of Italian literature (though it's much shorter) but it's a far greater novel , and deserves to be much better known in the U.S. than it is. The story of a fading aristocratic family in the late 19th century -- and its aging prince, the Leopard of the title -- it is the kind of beautiful, sweeping historical novel that irresistibly draws readers in.