First published 2022
Matelda Cabrelli knows her time is running short. The family matriarch has spent decades keeping her mother's story locked away, but now she calls her granddaughter Anina to her bedside. She begins to tell the tale of Domenica Cabrelli, who lived in the Italian coastal town of Viareggio before World War II changed everything. Domenica loved two men: her childhood friend Silvio and Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, who fathered the daughter he never knew existed. When Italy enters the war, Domenica flees her home and travels from Marseille to Scotland to Liverpool, where Italian Scots face imprisonment. She experiences love and loss while yearning to return home. As Matelda shares these revelations, both she and Anina grapple with questions about family legacy and what deserves their devotion. The past and present stories merge as three generations of women confront shocking truths about their history and find their way toward healing.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Italy, Marseille, Scotland, Viareggio
Period: World War II
439 pages · Hardcover · Dutton
Content warnings: war