A family saga about the love, rebellion, and resilience of mothers and daughters whose lives intersect with those of real-life women who altered the history of Italy.

Women united by flower names, a pendant passed on through generations, and the dream of emancipation and self-fulfillment.

Rome, 1821. At the first light of dawn, young Gelsomina, cast out by her family because she is unmarried, dies giving birth to a girl. Her final wishes are that her daughter should have a charm that belonged to her father and the name of a flower. The medallion is passed on from mother to daughter, as is the tradition of the flower name. From Gelsomina’s daughter Ortensia, the Red Cross nurse in the entourage of Cristina Trivulzio di Belgioso, to Erica, one of history’s first women doctors to specialise in paediatrics. To Iris, who discovers the family history and the origin of the famous charm Gelsomina was given by a painter who was in love with her, and how his love token became an admonishment to all her descendants: to bloom against all adversity. To fight for your dreams and not wait for a man to make them come true.

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Anemotionally charged novel of unexpected destinies and unbreakable bonds, where the lives of two sisters intertwine with real historical figures and the defining events of the 20th century.

Paris, 1920s. Estelle – radiant and compassionate – and Olympia – fierce and rebellious – are sisters divided by temperament but bound by a painful past. After their mother’s death, it is Olympia who raises Estelle as her own. But when Estelle falls in love with an American writer named Paul, a long-buried secret shatters their bond and forces Olympia to flee to a Spain on the brink of civil war.

Decades later, in Rome, a young journalist stumbles upon a novel published in Paris and New York in the 1960s. Following its trail, she discovers the extraordinary love story of Estelle and Paul, and Olympia’s final, silent act of devotion to her sister. A revelation powerful enough to reshape the past and prove that love can endure any distance.

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