The Empire of Dirt: A Novel

In this captivating English-language debut, three generations of women must face their secrets and regrets when an old family curse awakens.

There has always been tension in “the blind house,” where Valentina lives with her mother and grandmother in the Italian countryside. Valentina’s pious grandmother often hints at a family curse, while Valentina’s mother scoffs at superstition; it’s one of the battlegrounds on which they fight to control Valentina’s upbringing.

But in the summer of 1996, ...