Born in Turin in 1959, Alessandro Barbero is the author of four novels, and his Bella vita e guerre altrui di Mr. Pyle, gentiluomo (Milan: Mondadori, 1995) won the Premio Strega (roughly the Italian equivalent of the Booker) in 1996. The Anonymous Novel is the first of his fictional works to be translated into English, although they have long been translated into other languages. He also teaches medieval history and military history at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Vercelli. He has published many historical works, which are distinguished by his clear prose and faultless organisation of the principal arguments. Of note are Charlemagne. Father of a Continent (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) and The Day of the Barbarians (London: Atlantic Books, 2007).