Author:
Giada Messina Cuti
Publisher:
Guanda
Release Date:
10-10-2025
Dalia lives in a small Sicilian village overlooking the sea, with an adoptive family she adores. The deep love she receives from her father, Felice, and her grandmother, Brigida, is not enough to soften the coldness of her mother Franca, a stern, distant woman who disapproves of Dalia’s spirited nature, her lack of refinement, and above all, her unsettling habit of dreaming about dramatic events that never involve her, always others. When Franca forces the family to move to Mestre, Dalia finds herself in a cold, unfamiliar world where her already fragile sense of belonging begins to dissolve. Caught between restlessness and profound loss, she sinks into a long season of darkness and solitude. Just when it seems there’s no way out, someone appears, at a moment that feels like fate, offering her what she’s always longed for: the chance to dream of herself, and to free herself from the pain she carries. But to do that, Dalia must return to her homeland, to the ruins of a life that no longer exists.