Hanns-Josef Ortheil is a German author, scholar of German literature, and pianist. He has written many autobiographical and historical novels, some of which have been translated into 11 languages, according to WorldCat: French, Dutch, Modern Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Lithuanian, Japanese, Slovenian, and Russian.
Nice little read in preparation of returning to all those wonderfully mouth-watering dolci of Sicily. A little more background on the history of each of the traditionals as well as, potentially, more details on how to make them would have been a nice addition.