Sicily, 1960: As a girl, Oliva is allowed to aim her slingshot at boys. She is allowed to run across the road to the village with her brother Cosimino and come home sweaty and with dirty knees. But the older Oliva gets, the more her world changes. As the girl grows into a young woman, her mother tells her that a girl is like a jug: if you break her, you take her. When Oliva learns first-hand what this means, and the tacit system of female oppression in which she lives forces her to marry the man who abused her, she has to make a decision: Is she willing to pay the price for rebellion?

Viola Ardone beautifully evokes a country and its people, customs and passions, breathing life into an unforgettable girl in all her intensity, desperation and bravery. A novel that alternates between light-heartedness and tragedy – powerful, captivating and liberating.