Lilia Herriton, a young English widow, travels to Tuscany to escape her overbearing in-laws. While there, she marries Gino, an impoverished Italian man much younger than herself, a choice that scandalizes her respectable family in Sawston. When Lilia dies in childbirth, the Herritons travel to the town of Monteriano to retrieve the infant and bring him back to England for a proper upbringing. Philip Herriton and his sister Harriet face a clash between rigid British social codes and the uninhibited, chaotic emotional life of the Italian countryside. This struggle leads to a kidnapping attempt and a tragic accidental death.
Readers interested in the tensions between Edwardian propriety and Mediterranean spontaneity will value this study of cultural conflict. It appeals to those who enjoy social satire and psychological realism within historical settings. The book provides a look at how class pride and provincialism can blind individuals to the humanity of others. A reader finishes the story with a clear understanding of the destructive consequences of emotional repression and the futility of trying to impose one society’s moral framework upon another.
- Published
- 1920
- Language
- EN
