Elias Portolu

The novel revolves around the figure of the protagonist Elias, an ex-convict who has served his sentence in a prison on the peninsula, who returns to his hometown. His relatives and friends await him with apprehension. The Portolus are a united family: the old father, a typical balente of the area, spends words of praise on his three children, "three strong, healthy and beautiful doves like no other in Nuoro". Within what seems to be a clan (a term used by Deledda) arrives the female figure of Maria Maddalena, a very beautiful woman who is the future wife of Pietro, Elias' brother. The novel tells of the illicit and tormented love between the latter and his promised bride, thus unfolding the experience of carnal sin, betrayal and remorse that torments the two lovers. Elias decides to escape from the situation by taking refuge in his cassock, however the plot becomes complicated by Maddalena's pregnancy who, after Pietro's death, gives birth to Elias' son. Despite the pleas of the woman he loves, who urges him to raise her son as the legitimate father, Elias is determined to take priestly ordination and his decision will be irrevocable. A few years later, Elias and Maddalena's young son, suffering from a serious illness, will die. == Italian editions ==