Riccardo Bacchelli

"The story which began in 1812 with a young Italian sapper on the Beresina during the retreat from Moscow closes with the death of his descendant on the Piave in 1918 The main figure is Cecilia, a widow with a large family, struggling to make a living on her mill on the Po in the hard and troubled years when Italy had yet to find its feet as a sovereign state." "The love of Cecilia's daughter Berta for a young peasant is set against a background of social unrest, of agricultural strikes and the first fermenting of socialist ideas in Northern Italy. The story is set in a district where life and politics were long marked by violence. It is this explosive quality expressed in the characters of Berta's brother which leads him to kill her lover and bring the story to its fateful close."--Page [1].

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