The White Moth is an intimate, riveting portrait of life at a farm villa in Tuscany, from the challenging times of fascism and foreign occupation in the 1940s to the idyllic farm-to-table times in the 1970s. A generational saga of longing, loss and displacement, the book is also an American woman’s tribute to her Italian husband and mother-in-law. While championing Alda’s courage, optimism and resilience despite heartbreaking loss, the author also celebrates her own idyllic times spent harvesting and falling in love with her friend at his farm villa in the 1970s. The book explores the interconnected stories of three generations of women who marry into the Rafanelli family and reveals the importance of place and the tender relationship between women. It is also the story of the changing roles and status of women and challenges the stereotype of the often maligned role of a mother-in-law.

Excerpt from The White Moth Within reaching distance of her hand was the back of Elsie Rice. Now and then Elsie stepped back, laughing, from the group around her, and Hilda's white satin slippers were in danger. Then Hilda moved, smiling readily. But Elsie never looked around. On the other side was the back of Janey Hubbell. J aney's back was covered with tight-stretched white organdie, through which there showed creases from underneath: when she moved she brushed Hilda's elbow with a huge white satin bow. A long while ago Hilda had been interested in the bow, shaped like a cabbage and pinched and tweaked into fault less rotundity. J aney's dressmaker mother must have done it. But for five whole minutes Hilda had been gazing into its convolutions without seeing them, because she had nothing else to do. Janey was talking to a boy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.