The Gadfly (1897) by Ethel Lilian Voynich is a novel of revolution and faith set in 1840s Italy under Austrian rule. Arthur Burton, a devout young man, is betrayed to the authorities after inadvertently revealing his revolutionary connections through confession to Father Montanelli, whom he deeply trusts. Believing himself abandoned by God and loved ones, he fakes his suicide and flees to South America. Thirteen years later, he returns as "the Gadfly," a bitter, sharp-tongued revolutionary journalist battling the Catholic Church's power. He loves Gemma, confronts Montanelli—now a Cardinal and secretly his father—and faces execution with unbreakable courage.
