Affluent ladies of the city hurry to see Ophelia Rossi, hiding behind thick veils. The celebrated fortune-teller promises to help in any trouble, yet carefully keeps the secret of where her gift comes from. One day, a charming widower, the engineer Corrado Laudati, appears on the doorstep—and gradually, a feeling between them begins to kindle.
However, this attraction could cost Ophelia her freedom and her life: for already seven years, she has been hiding from a cruel aristocratic husband who will stop at nothing to find the runaway woman, bring her to light, and punish her for disobedience. Bьянка Питцорно skillfully brings to life the everyday life and morals of 19th-century Sardinia and reminds us what price, in every era, women have to pay for the right to be independent. This adventurous novel, which has won over Europe, will surely take its place in the history of Italian literature.