New paperback edition, April 2026 "One of Anna Maria Ortese's best known examples of Italian 'magical realism,' The Iguana is a complex story of twists and turns, with roving aristocrats, uncharted islands, poetry, religion, class struggle, introspection, philosophical debate, and a servant who is an old woman — no, a large, ancient lizard — no, a young lizard — no, a beautiful girl in a lace dress — no, a servant in grey rags. Abrupt plot shifts intermingle with high flying rhetoric: "if excitement strikes you as a target hardly congruent to the vast potentialities of money, then consider the strict correlation between financial abundance and the impoverishment of the senses." There are echoes of Kafka and Shakespeare's The Tempest; there are dark cellars, deep wells, and tall, grey towers. Read in a single-minded quest to unravel the mystery, the novel careens and jolts like a fun house ride and ends with more questions and uncertainties than when it began. If, on the other hand, readers approach The Iguana like a two thousand-piece puzzle — pick up the pieces and look at each shape as well as how they fit together, read sentences more than once just to feel the rhythm, marvel at word choice, and try to figure out the implications in what the characters are saying – they will be amply rewarded with both more answers and more mysteries." — from 500 Great Books by Women, review by Erica Bauermeister

"When young Count Aleardo di Grees sails from Milan, he chances upon an uncharted island off the coast of Portugal. The island is Ocana, said to belong to the devil. Intrigued, the Count drops anchor and is welcomed by the young Portuguese marquis who lives there. That evening, dinner is served by the family's servant, Estrellita, a shrunken old woman who is actually an iguana dressed in women's clothes, her snout hidden by a dark cloth hanging from her head. The Count is fascinated by this creature, and his fascination becomes pity, obsession, even desire. Is Estrellita indeed the embodiment of evil, as the marquis seems to believe, or is she simply an innocent beast most cruelly maligned? This strange and lyric novel, first published in Italy in 1965 and winner of the prestigious Fiuggi Prize when issued there in paperback last year, has been beautifully translated. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

Format: Paperback

Author: Ortese, Anna Maria

Publisher: McPherson & Company

Pub Date: April 17, 2026

ISBN: 9781620540695

Filters

Magical Realism