and roams the countryside carrying a gun. He has a dry, smooth, thin, white face and a look of world-weariness. He does not like girls or the ordinary pleasures of youth. During his father’s illness, he serves him as a slave, taking dictation, typing memoirs, readingFaust to him, and caring for his physical needs in the face of verbal abuse. After his father’s death, he develops a close friendship with his neighbor Emanuele, the elder son of a soap manufacturer. They become pedantic provincial intellectuals who secretly read subversive works and talk about revolution. Expecting a police raid one evening, they furtively burn a bundle of newspapers but never hear from the authorities concerning their vague ideology. When Italy enters the war on Germany’s side after the fall of France, Ippolito, sitting in the public gardens, commits suicide with his father’s revolver.

Giustino

Giustino (jih-ews-TEE-noh), Anna’s younger brother, who ultimately fights with the partisans in Russia.

Concettina

Concettina (kon-cheh-TEE-nah), Anna’s older sister, who has many suitors but marries a Fascist and flees Italy to protect her baby during the war.

This is a choral novel in which the collective experience of families and social groups is more important than that of separate individuals. One can clearly distinguish the individual voices, but all are linked to the thematic and historical chorus. Consequently, no one character stands out as the focus of the book. By the end of Part 1, however, it is clear that the remainder of the action will revolve around Anna and her middle-aged husband, Cenzo Rena. Anna emerges only gradually from the shadows. As a schoolgirl, she thinks of herself as unattractive and not very intelligent and is ashamed to have to wear dresses made out of curtains. She accepts the courtship of Giuma out of gratitude that someone is paying attention to her and in the full knowledge that he does not love her. Anna is completely passive in the acceptance of her pregnancy, Giuma’s indifference, and her marriage. The reader must see this as a consequence of being born female in a patriarchal society and remember that Anna is still a child. In the circumstances, she is fortunate to find in Rena a protector who is wise and generous in spirit.

Natalia Ginzburg’s characterization of Cenzo Rena is remarkable. Rena marries Anna out of loyalty and love for her father. He breaks in on the family’s torpor at the most unexpected moments and attempts to breathe some vitality into their ennui and passivity. In sweeping Anna off to the South, he offers her a protection which reflects his social commitment to all the inhabitants of San Costanzo. He is sincerely committed to the future of his adopted daughter, to that of the villagers, and indeed to the whole of southern Italy. Cenzo Rena has plans for his village beyond the end of the war and the inevitable collapse of Fascism. He has even marked out a new mayor, the peasant Giovanni, whose function will be to put into practice all Rena can teach him about social welfare. Ultimately, Rena is a tragic figure obliged to offer his life to save others. The village, the South, and his young wife and child lose a man of action and moral energy.

The book’s remaining characters are drawn with bold brush strokes, fully rounded in speech and gesture. The old governess, Signora Maria, is initially the glue that keeps the family together, with her punctilious observance of social convention. Concettina is busy with her boyfriends. Her vision grows even narrower after her marriage. Ippolito is silent; his mysterious smile cannot hide a growing, ungovernable despair. The generous Emanuele eventually learns the courage to break away from his family, and Anna’s younger brother, Giustino, grows to political maturity through the war. Giuma, the spoiled boy, reverts to middle-class conformity at the end. Finally, there is the refugee Franz, who is numb with fear when he turns up at San Costanzo, carrying his tennis rackets to a mountain village in the midst of war.