Chapter 2 Summary

Thirty-seven-year-old Ida Mancuso is an elementary teacher who is somewhat afraid of the world. She is of average intelligence and grew up with no siblings, raised by her father Giuseppe Ramundo and Nora Almagiá in Cosenza, Italy. The story goes back into Ida's history.

Nora Almagiá Ramundo (changed to Almagía to hide her Jewish descent), a schoolteacher, is Jewish but has changed the accent mark on her name to protect herself. She is given to manic outbursts and believes Jews are destined to be persecuted. Nora and Guiseppe raise Ida, or "Iduzza" as a Catholic. Guiseppe is an active alcoholic, an outspoken anarchist who loves his wife and daughter.

The narrator tries to imagine the town of Cosenza in that time, its agrarian culture and cruel caste system. Ida, as a child, experiences mild seizures, another secret held by her small family...