The book takes us to the south of Italy, where it seems that “the stones groan with heat… and that water has never yet soaked the fields and watered the olive trees”. Like the power of the sun, human emotions are also powerful and primal. In this environment, the life of the Scorts unfolds, a family born of violence and error, a family that fights its way through life with determination and is more vital from generation to generation, passing on its experience and wisdom to each succeeding generation. The novel was awarded the prestigious French literary prize Goncourt in 2004.