Summary

Lila and Elena meet at the age of six, when they decide to visit Don Achille's apartment. Don Achille Carracci is the mythical, feared, head of the neighborhood in 1958 Naples, Italy. He is forbidden and it is a fearful thing, but the girls walk up the steps one at a time, towards his apartment. In the beginning of Chapter 2, Elena explains why they are making such a treacherous trip. They had been playing dolls in the courtyard, near each other more than together, not talking, and as they are playing, Lila shoves Elena's doll through the grate in the street, into the sewer below.

In Chapter 3, Elena explains that she always knew who Lila was: she knew her in school, in Maestra Oliviero's class, where Elena always did good work, but Lila was very poorly behaved. What's worse, when the teacher attempted to...