An Umbrian War Book

In the hills and countryside of Umbria there is a house outside a village in which live Alcina and Aliseo, sister and brother. She is older, wiser, apparently stronger; he is younger, his head is in the clouds.

It is the last two years of war. The Germans are on the run, the local fascists engaged in a final desperate spree of cruelty and arrogance. Alcina confidently looks after the fields, runs the house and looks after Aliseo. But inside her heart there is fear, fear of loneliness and the terrible fear of death. She knows too much: her mother died giving birth to Aliseo, and her father also died young. Alcina and Aliseo join the partisans in the mountains: this experience will help her to overcome her fears. She will learn that there is space enough in her heart for all those things she previously denied, amongst them perhaps even love.

This is a surprising, beautiful novel of and about feelings, a subtle story, one difficult to forget. Alcina will remain with the reader for a long time, with her mixture of boldness and reserve, her secret fears, her ability to understand others and understand herself. She holds everything together, past and present, daily life and memory.