"There is a blooming oleander in the garden of a house in Carbonara, Apulia. Agostino planted it when he moved there with his wife Anita, known to everyone as “la Margiala.” A woman of rare and profound beauty, la Margiala has the power to soothe the pain of newborn babies, is an invaluable aid during childbirths and can remove the evil eye if necessary. She has three daughters-Rosetta, Cornelia and Diamante, the youngest. The first is beautiful and wild like herself. The second has her father's honey-colored hair and light eyes. Diamante, on the other hand, is chubby and her head is always shaggy: from those untamed curls-her mother repeats to her-derives her rebellious spirit. With a stern eye that almost never indulges tenderness, Margiala witnesses over the years the death of her husband, the onset of war and the growth of her daughters, with their unhappy loves, burning passions and bitter disappointments. The Margiala's reassuring presence, shrouded in her impenetrable silence, nevertheless watches over them, even in the face of the most unpredictable fate..." ~ from Goodreads.com