This first volume contains a short biography of the author, Matilde Serao. She was one of the most accomplished women of her day. A very popular 19th Century Italian novelist who wrote 40 books, started four newspapers, also was a newspaper journalist and, on top of all that, she raised five children. No one was goingt to tell Matilde she couldn't have it all!The remainer of the book is full of delightful stories of life in Naples revealing Italian customs of the day and insightful stories of her friends, family, church, romances and neighbors.Some chapter titles are: - The Lottery Drawing - Doctor Amati - Agnesina Fragali's Christening - Carnival in Naples - Bianca Maria's Vision - San Gennaro's MiracleMatilde Serao is in a category of her own. She was a naturalist, but her naturalism should be understood in a much wider sense than that which is generally given to it. She was a naturalist because her books reflect life with the utmost simplicity of means, sometimes with an utter neglect of means, and at the same time she is an idealist through her deep sense of the beauty and nobility which humanity can attain, and to which her writings continually aspire. All her work is truly and profoundly Italian; it is the literature of a great mass of individuals, rather than of one peculiarly accentuated individual; the joy and pain of a whole class rather than the perplexities of a unique case or type pulsates through her pages.Be sure to read volume two and to look for more of Matilde Serao's novels for your Kindle.