National Network for Equitable Library Service

A sequel to The Girls of Piazza d’Amore, this novel is a sweeping epic that chronicles the lives of three women of different generations, all living in Montreal, but connected and haunted by the same Italian village past. After her childhood friend, Lucia— protagonist of The Girls of Piazza D’Amore — is found beaten, an apparent victim of domestic violence, and Lucia’s husband disappears, Cathy, a high school teacher, takes Lucia’s daughter, Angie, into her home. This arrangement causes conflict between Cathy and her live-in boyfriend, Sean. There are rumours that Lucia’s family is connected to the Montreal Mafia. Sean is involved in Federal politics and sees Angie’s presence in their home as a political liability. Out of loyalty to her old friend, Cathy refuses to let Angie go. Meanwhile, Lucia’s husband is located in Italy from where he makes accusations of corruption against Lucia’s family and their business partner with ties to the Liberal Member of Parliament for whom Sean works. These revelations are brought to the attention of the Montreal tabloids by a journalist, Antoine Le Grand, with whom Cathy has had a problematic relationship since her teens, when she solicited his help as a writing mentor. All of these elements come to a head when Cathy returns home after a Halloween party and discovers Angie is missing. She desperately searches for her and, in doing so, comes face to face the underbelly of the city and the school.