8 h 55 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 55 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the chance of a better life puts everything your family has at risk?
In Giovanni Verga's The House by the Medlar-Tree, the Toscano family, known as the Malavoglia, work as fishermen in Aci Trezza, Sicily. Padron 'Ntoni trusts old sayings, hard work and family loyalty. When young 'Ntoni is called to military service, the household loses a pair of hands it needs.
A load of lupins bought on credit offers hope of better fortune. But a storm and a demanding moneylender turn that hope into pressure. Around the family, the village gossips, judges and bargains. Verga lets its many voices reveal a world where money, law and rumor threaten a home beside a medlar tree.
What you’ll discover
- A village that speaks Hear Aci Trezza through its proverbs, quarrels and gossip, without a narrator's moral lectures.
- Old wisdom, restless hopes Follow the tension between Padron 'Ntoni's loyalty to home and his grandson's hunger for more.
- The weight of debt Watch a bargain tighten around a family whose livelihood depends on the sea.
- Quiet lives under pressure Meet Maruzza, Mena and Alessi, each carrying family duties alongside personal hopes.
- Realism without pity Discover Verga's unsentimental attention to ordinary people, their work and their struggle to hold on.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy family sagas, village gossip and the sea. It suits readers who care about honest people under pressure and want a story full of voices, weather and loyalty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A family arranged like five fingers
- Ntoni is called away to the navy
- A debt on credit sends the boat to sea
- The sea takes more than the cargo
- The bailiff comes and a lawyer shrugs
- Mena, Alfio and the loss of a quiet hope
- A night storm and the old man's wound
- Duty to the house against the wish to get away
- Money, gossip and a village that watches
- The story is told in the village's voice
Who’s who
- Padron NtoniThe old head of the Malavoglia, who trusts proverbs, hard work and honesty, and wants to keep the family together and the house safe.
- NtoniThe eldest grandson, strong and restless after his time in the navy, who dreams of an easier life far from Trezza.
- Maruzza, called La LongaBastianazzo's wife, a quiet woman who weaves, sells eggs and holds the household together while fearing for her family.
- Mena, called Sant'AgataThe eldest granddaughter, who works at the loom and hides her feelings for Alfio Mosca behind her duty to the family.
- Alfio MoscaA poor carter with a donkey cart, shy and kind, who loves Mena and cannot find the words to say it.
- Uncle CrucifixThe deaf moneylender called Dumb-bell, who sells the lupins on credit and wants every centime back.
- GoosefootA limping broker and talker who lives on commissions and makes himself useful to whoever pays.
- AlessioThe youngest grandson, steady and hardworking, who dreams of a boat, a wife named Nunziata and the house by the medlar tree.
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Die Malavoglia
by Giovanni Verga · 1881
The Malavoglia family risk a boat, a house and a load of lupins on a single voyage.
Medium level5–10 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
What happens to a family when one bad bargain meets one bad storm? In a Sicilian fishing village, the Malavoglia family owns a boat called the Provvidenza and a house beside a medlar tree.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A family arranged like five fingers
Only one branch of the Malavoglia is left in Aci Trezza. Their nickname means Ill-wills, which is the opposite of their nature.
Padron Ntoni, the grandfather, explains the family with his fist. To pull a good oar, he says, all five fingers must work together. He is the thumb, and each of the others has a place. His son Bastianazzo does whatever his father says. Bastianazzo's wife Maruzza weaves, salts anchovies and raises the children.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1881
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Verga, Giovanni. The House by the Medlar-Tree. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-by-the-medlar-tree.
Verga, G. (2026). The house by the medlar-tree. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-by-the-medlar-tree (Original work published 1881)
Verga, Giovanni. The House by the Medlar-Tree. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-by-the-medlar-tree.
@book{verga2026house,
author = {Verga, Giovanni},
title = {The House by the Medlar-Tree},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-by-the-medlar-tree},
note = {First published 1881}
}
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What is The House by the Medlar-Tree about?
It follows the Malavoglia, a fishing family in a Sicilian village. A debt for a cargo of lupins, a lost boat and a lawsuit test their pride, their unity and their hold on the house they love.
Who are the Malavoglia?
They are an old fishing family in Aci Trezza, led by Padron Ntoni. His son Bastianazzo, daughter-in-law Maruzza and grandchildren Ntoni, Luca, Mena, Alessio and Lia live together in the house by the medlar tree.
What does the medlar tree stand for?
The medlar tree shades the family courtyard and stands for home, belonging and the past. Padron Ntoni wants to live and die near it, and the family's hopes keep returning to it.
The author
Giovanni Verga
1840–1922 · Italian novelist
Giovanni Verga was an Italian novelist and short-story writer born in Catania, Sicily, in 1840. He lived in Florence and Milan before returning to Catania. He published I Malavoglia, known in English as The House by the Medlar-Tree, in 1881, and Mastro-don Gesualdo in 1889. He died in Catania in 1922.
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