Under the Cicada Tree

Quiet and timid Cecillia lives in Verona with her mother and elderly aunts; together they run a fresh pasta shop. Their noisy, loving—and at times unbearable—family surrounds the girl with care, but sometimes it feels like there is just too much of it.

The eldest aunt dies, leaving Cecillia a mystery as an inheritance: the sisters had a younger brother who disappeared without a trace right after his birth. To find Lorenzo, the girl sets off for where it all began—a deserted house beside which an old apple tree grows. Many decades ago, the five sisters would meet under it in the evenings, listening to the cicadas’ rasping. What secrets remained from that distant time? Cecillia must find out—and, along the way, learn many things about herself.