Summary

Book 2 begins with the time marker “1937-1941” (63), beginning with Sofia and Antonia both thirteen years old and just beginning high school. On their first day of school, the girls are separated, Sofia making new friends at lunch in the cafeteria while Antonia went hungry in the library.

Sofia defies her family by staying home from Sunday mass and revels in this newfound independence. While she is home, she sees out the window that Antonia is walking somewhere, keeping a secret from Sofia. When they meet later that day for habitual Sunday dinner at the Russo’s, Sofia does not ask Antonia where she was. Antonia, unbeknownst to Sofia, has been going to mass at a different church, something her mother still refuses to do. Keeping secrets begins to drive the girls apart.

Lina begins visiting the neighborhood witch (also known as the maga, or...