Summary

In Chapter 85, Elena leaves the city with her children and Gennaro for a seaside vacation. She speaks to Lila and Pietro daily, but says little of importance. Gennaro is a rough child, but he eventually charms Elena’s daughters, especially Dede. Once Elena catches them in a hidden alcove of reeds, naked and touching one another with childlike fascination. For a few moments, Elena is frozen with indecision, and then she overhears Gennaro speaking to her daughter in the vulgar dialect of her childhood. She yells at him to stop. From then on she is careful to watch the children together. Pietro comes to visit on the weekends, bringing with him the ghost of their childhood vacation to Ischia with Nino, Lila, Stefano, Pina, and Bruno.

In Chapter 86, Pietro comes to the beach bearing news that Bruno Soccavo’s sausage factory was attacked...