The book tells how, in search of glory and good luck, the Normans arrived in the south of Italy, where Sicily languished under the rule of the Saracens, torn apart by local rulers and churchmen. The process of unification of the state was slowly but inevitably going on. There were no second-class peoples: Normans, Italians, Lombards, Saracens, Greeks - everyone should have played their part. The star of Otvilei, which flashed so brightly over three continents, faded less than two centuries later.