''Thornton Wilder's 1926 debut novelprobes the inscrutable mystery of the ancient, fabulous wealth that confers akind of immortality on its custodians, allowing their natures to form withoutconcession or compromise to life beyond their privileged enclave. . . .[It] established Wilder as one of the most accomplished stylists of his generation.''—The Guardian

In The Cabala,Samuele, an American student, spends a year in the fabulously decadent world ofpost World War I Rome. He experiences first-hand the waning days of a secretcommunity—a “cabala” composed of decaying European royalty, eccentricexpatriate Americans, even a great cardinal of the Roman Church.

The vivid portraitshe paints of these characters, whom he views as the vestigial representativesof the gods and goddesses of Ancient Rome, launched Wilder’s career as acelebrated storyteller and literary stylist.