Two Women (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Alberto Moravia
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1943-1944
- Setting: Sant’Eufemia, Italy
- Principal Characters: Cesira, Rosetta, Concetta, Vincenzo, Rosario, Giuseppe, Filippo, Michele, Paride, Clorindo
- Genres: Long fiction, Realism, Social realism
- Subjects: Suffering, 1940’s, World War II, Villages, Rape, War, Italy or Italians, Refugees, Fascism, Peasantry or peasants
- Locales: Rome, Italy, Sant’Eufemia, Italy
The Story:
Cesira was a peasant woman from the Ciociaria region southeast of Rome. The widow of a Roman shopkeeper, she had continued to run the shop after her husband’s death. Selfish, shrewd, and strong-willed, Cesira had concern only for herself and her eighteen-year-old daughter, Rosetta. When the war came, she welcomed it because in wartime food becomes scarce and dear. Before long, she and Rosetta were doing a thriving black market business with the flour, eggs, hams, and potatoes they were able to get from the farmers in her home village and other country places near...
[The entire page is 1809 words long]

