"In 1348 a party of wealthy young patricians take refuge from the plague that is raging in the city in a villa outside Florence. To pass the time, they tell each other stories. Ranging from the earthily comic to the profoundly tragic, they encompass marital misunderstanding and thwarted passion, the simple joys of physical love as well as bawdily exuberant tales of deception and hypocrisy shamed. It is a feat which Boccaccio, an important figure in European literature, never bettered. A skilful plotter, an instinctive spinner of stories and a craftsman whose prose is poetical, elegant and down to earth by turns, Boccaccio and his hundred stories have passed into our literature and folklore, enriching it immeasurably."--
Book
