Author: Alberto Moravia
Publisher: Signet D1657
Year: 1959 Print: 1 Cover Price: $.50
Condition: Book Grades.  Very Good. Light wear
Genre: Fiction/WWII/Historical
Pages: 287

70126129E

Set in Italy during World War II, the story follows Cesira, a widowed Roman shopkeeper, and her devout, 18-year-old daughter, Rosetta. To escape the imminent German occupation of Rome, Cesira sews her life savings into her dress and flees with her daughter to her native mountainous region of Ciociaria. They endure nine grueling months of hunger, cold, and a cutthroat local barter economy while waiting for the Allies to liberate them. However, their ultimate "liberation" brings horror rather than peace: while returning to Rome, they are brutally attacked and Rosetta is raped by Allied Moroccan soldiers. The trauma fractures Rosetta's innocence, steering her into prostitution, and forces Cesira to confront the profound capacity for evil inherent in human nature