Summary

In 1899, the dancer Isadora Duncan makes her debut in New York. She travels to Europe, where Natalie and Renée admire her performance. Isadora and her brother go to Greece, where Isadora buys land and dreams “of a house, copied from the palace of Agamemnon” (104). Penelope soon meets Isadora. Along with their brothers, they commit to founding a school dedicated to “bringing [ancient] Greek culture alive to the Greek people” (107). Penelope marries Isadora’s brother. Eva, meanwhile, comes to adore Penelope’s singing. She travels to Greece, and eventually marries Penelope’s brother. She thinks of Natalie only in “rare and bitter moments” (111).

Romaine travels to Capri. The narrator discusses the Zanardelli Code, which ignores homosexuals and thus “[fails] to find us punishable by law in Italy” (114). Natalie and Romaine build a villa for themselves in France. Eva continues to bemoan the loss...