Chapter 32: Mari — Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on Friday, April 27, 1821, with Mari standing on a bluff overlooking the sea as the Aquila approaches. Paola notes that the crew is furling sails, a sign the vessel intends to anchor. The women prepare to descend to the water, but Mari remains frozen, feeling numb.

Paola suddenly thrusts her hand into Mari's bag and pulls out Holmes's letter. She confronts Mari, accusing her of having a lover aboard the Aquila. Ami tries to defuse the situation, while Pippa and Emilia look on in confusion. Paola mentions that Corso would have asked for her hand if he weren't planning to ask for Mari's. Mari reveals that Corso already proposed a few days earlier at Ami's house, and she refused, telling him she only wanted to find Lia.

Overwhelmed, Mari collapses to the ground in tears. Ami kneels beside her and insists they must sink the vessel. Mari thinks of Matteo and the suffering the Fratelli Mazza has brought to the village, and she concludes that Holmes would want her to proceed—that he would be furious if she hesitated. She resolves to go forward, pushing aside her grief over losing the dream of being Holmes's wife.

As the women walk down the trail, Paola confronts Mari again, revealing that she knows Mari's mother did not drown. Paola explains that she and her mother, Cleila, were on the beach that night and witnessed everything.

The narrative then shifts to a flashback twelve years earlier. Eight-year-old Mari wakes to hurried footsteps and sees her mother, Imelda, leaving through the gate with a bag. Earlier that evening, Imelda had been unusually affectionate with Mari and her younger sister Sofia. Mari follows her mother to the beach and watches in horror as Imelda boards a small boat with two men. Mari runs after her, screaming, and throws herself against the boat, but a strong current pulls her back as the boat drifts away. Her mother leaves willingly.

Mari returns home in anguish, vomiting twice on the road. She goes to Sofia's room but cannot bring herself to tell her fragile four-year-old sister the truth. Instead, she tells everyone—her father, Sofia, the villagers, and later Holmes—that her mother went for a swim and never emerged. When the streghe ask whether Imelda was wearing her cimaruta, Mari says yes, and they accept the story.

Paola explains that she and Cleila often took late-night walks after Paola's father died, and they witnessed Imelda's departure. They kept the secret to protect Cleila's marriage to Mari's father, since the village's knowledge that Imelda was alive would have illegitimatized the marriage. This revelation explains Paola's earlier resentment: Mari received sympathy for a mother who wasn't actually dead, while Paola's father truly was.

Mari reflects on her mother's possible motives—greed or a secret love—concluding that anything is better than believing she and Sofia drove their mother away.

The women reach the water and take positions along an arc roughly twenty meters wide, evenly spaced. Emilia begins to cry, saying she cannot do it, but Pippa reminds her that the men are captors who took her mother and killed her father. The women place their hands in the sea and begin the incantation. The water pulls away from Mari's hands, creating a concave indentation—the sea's expression of her internal resistance. As the Aquila draws near, Mari wonders whether Holmes is on deck and whether he sees the strange whirlpool forming ahead.

Key Events

Paola discovers Holmes's letter in Mari's bag and confronts her about the relationship.
Mari reveals Corso proposed days earlier and she refused, wanting only to find Lia.
Mari collapses in grief but resolves to proceed with the plan to sink the Aquila.
Paola reveals she knows Mari's mother did not drown.
Flashback: eight-year-old Mari witnesses her mother Imelda boarding a boat with two men and leaving willingly.
Mari's lifelong lie about her mother's drowning is exposed.
Paola explains she and Cleila witnessed the departure and kept the secret to protect Cleila's marriage.
The women take positions along the coast and begin the incantation; the sea pulls away from Mari's hands.

Character Development

Mari is forced to confront the layers of deception in her life. Her grief over Holmes is compounded by Paola's revelation about her mother, and she must reconcile her childhood wound with her adult understanding of secrets. Her decision to proceed with the sinking despite her personal loss shows her commitment to the village and her belief that Holmes would want her to act.

Paola is revealed as a keeper of secrets herself. Her earlier hostility toward Mari is explained: she resented that Mari received sympathy for a mother who was not actually dead, while her own father truly was. Her confrontation with Mari is both accusatory and confessional.

Emilia hesitates at the critical moment, crying that she cannot do it, revealing the emotional cost of the collective action. Pippa steels her resolve, reminding the others that the men are captors who harmed her family.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Secrets and lies: The chapter is built on layers of deception—Mari's lie about her mother, Paola's secret knowledge, and the hidden truth about Imelda's departure. Mari's realization that some people, especially women, tuck away their most tender secrets ties her mother's abandonment to the broader theme of women's hidden lives.

Maternal abandonment: Imelda's willing departure is the wound at the center of Mari's identity. Mari's childhood belief that she and Sofia drove their mother away, and her later suspicion that greed or love motivated the departure, show how abandonment shapes a child's self-understanding.

Sacrifice and duty versus personal desire: Mari gives up the dream of being Holmes's wife and her plan to escape Positano, choosing instead to fulfill her duty to the village. Her grief is real, but she proceeds.

The sea as a responsive force: The water pulls away from Mari's hands, creating a concave indentation. The text states that Mari was filled with resistance, and this was the sea's expression of it. This suggests the incantation's success depends on the women's inner state.

The cimaruta talisman: Mari's claim that her mother was wearing her cimaruta when she drowned is part of the lie, but it also shows how the talisman functions as a symbol of strega identity and strength.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter delivers two major revelations that reshape the reader's understanding of Mari. First, the truth about Imelda's abandonment is finally exposed, explaining Mari's lifelong grief and her protective lies. Second, Paola's secret knowledge reframes her hostility toward Mari as rooted in genuine grievance rather than simple jealousy.

The chapter also sets up the climax of the sinking. Mari's internal resistance, expressed through the sea's reaction to her hands, raises the stakes: if her grief and doubt compromise the incantation, the plan may fail. The chapter ends with the Aquila approaching and the whirlpool forming, leaving the reader poised for the confrontation to come.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why did Mari tell everyone her mother drowned rather than the truth?

Mari could not bear to admit that her mother had abandoned her and Sofia. When she went to Sofia's room, she found her four-year-old sister terribly fragile and naive and could not bring herself to tell her the truth. It seemed easier to say her mother was dead. This lie reveals Mari's protective instinct and her deep wound from abandonment—she would rather carry the burden of a false story than expose her sister or herself to the shame of being left.

2. How does Paola's revelation about Imelda explain her earlier hostility toward Mari?

Paola's father died, and she and her mother took late-night walks along the water in the months afterward. They witnessed Imelda's departure and kept the secret to protect Cleila's marriage to Mari's father. Paola resented that Mari received sympathy for a mother who was not actually dead, while Paola's own father truly was. This explains Paola's earlier accusation that Mari was showered with sympathy she didn't deserve.

3. What does the sea's reaction to Mari's hands suggest about the incantation's success?

When the women place their hands in the sea, the water pulls away from Mari's hands, creating a concave indentation. The text states that Mari was filled with resistance, and this was the sea's expression of it. This suggests that Mari's internal state—her grief over Holmes, her doubts, her unresolved feelings about her mother—may be interfering with the incantation. The sea's response implies that the ritual's power depends on the women's emotional alignment, and Mari's resistance could threaten the plan's success.