Called "Hotel Bruni" in Italian, this book follows the large Bruni family and their associates through the trials of the first half of the 20th century, taking in both world wars and the associated political upheavals in the country, set alongside the protagonists own frictions and shifts of alliance among each other.

There is no one central character, which allows the story to continue through time to new generations, but it is always centred around the same area in Emilio Romagna, and this is vividly evoked in the book through all the seasons. Above all, the book is about storytelling across a spectrum of scales, an involving and compelling read. ( )