The story of a family, bringing to life the forgotten heart of Italy, the Mezzogiorno, weakened by emigration, silenced by fascism. This is the imaginary memoir of an Italian family, from 1909 to the 1930s, with a framework in the present day. The narrator is drawn into the passion and prejudice of her own invention, and we see how memory, like folk memory distorts and mythologizes. Marina Warner is best known for her non-fictional work - The Dragon Empress, Alone of All Her Sex - The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc and Monuments and Maidens (Winner of the 1986 Fawcett Prize).