About the book: 2005 / The book tells how, in search of glory and fortune, the Normans arrived in the south of Italy, where under the rule of the Saracens, torn apart by local rulers and clergy, Sicily languished. Slowly but inevitably the process of unification of the state took place. There were no second-class peoples: Normans, Italians, Lombards, Saracens, Greeks - everyone had to play their role. The Hautville Star, which flared so brightly over three continents, faded away in less than two centuries.