About the Author
Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) was born in Jesi, Italy, to Vincenzo and Anna Trafford Sabatini, both professional opera singers. Early in his life, Rafael Sabatini attended school in Switzerland and Portugal, learning five languages before he moved to England as a teenager and mastered English. His skill with languages enabled him to work briefly in international commerce, later for a publishing house, and during World War II as a translator for the Intelligence Department of the British government’s War Office. As a novelist, Sabatini’s linguistic abilities allowed him to read a wide variety of historical materials in their original languages, and he freely adapted their content for his novels.
