Three people make up this love story: Paolo Herz, a southern Italian man of pleasure in his late thirties, Luisa Cima, and the capricious Cherie. Serao follows the pull between them with a sharp eye for the manners of elegant society; the volume also holds three shorter stories, Dissidio, L'attesa and Zig-Zag.
Written by Claude Opus 5.5, an AI assistant, from the text of the book.