Summary

Chapter 1 began as Delia, the first-person narrator, recounted the details of her mother’s death. On Delia’s birthday, her mother, Amalia, drowned in the sea near the Italian city of Minturno, around the farmhouse where their family used to spend the summer when Delia’s father still lived with them. Delia stopped reminiscing to explain that on the night Amalia died Rosa, the elderly owner of the farmhouse, claimed to have heard someone knocking at door, but Rosa was too afraid to open it.

Delia’s mother was supposed to visit her in Rome two days earlier, but never made the trip. Delia explained that her mother would come to stay with her for a few days at least once a month. Amalia’s presence bothered Delia, since her mother would upset her routine and change the organization of her house, making Delia...