Inspired by a true story, Black Grapes is a powerful and disturbing novel set in a dark and stagnant Sicily, in which De Stefani explores the obscure dynamics of mafia power, female subjugation, and a tragic case of incest between two siblings separated at birth.

Casimiro Badalamenti arrives in Cinisi after the mysterious disappearance of his father, a victim of a mob settling of scores. He is welcomed by Concetta, a former prostitute who sees submission to that man as her only chance for redemption. Her form of freedom is to give birth to children whom Casimiro gives away immediately after birth, because no one must know he fathered “bastards” with a woman like her.
When the opportunity to return to his hometown finally arises, Casimiro decides to do so as a respectable man, with a wife and children by his side. Thus, for the first time, Nicola and Rosaria are brought back to their father’s house at the ages of ten and eight, unaware of their origins until then. They grow up together, supporting each other, and during adolescence they fall in love: a love that blossomed in ignorance, born from a desperate need for affection in a family built on appearances and lies.

From that forbidden love comes the greatest shame, “the kind that God’s law punishes with hell and man’s law with prison.” For Casimiro, there is only one way out: to wash away the shame with blood. But fate recognizes neither honor nor shame, and that plan built on silence will eventually collapse on him.

pp.224