I will not cry. I will not. I’m not ashamed. Love is nothing to be ashamed of. Papa confronted me again. He took off his belt and beat me. He said he’d rather I was dead than perverted. I have to let G know. It’s not safe in Porta Sarina.

Later:

Papa said I would bring shame on the DeLuca family name, that he’d be a laughing stock in the business world if this got out. And after that he became morose and wondered what he and Mama had done to make me what I am. He stood by the drinks cabinet filling up his glass with brandy and blamed himself for the ‘disgusting creature’ that I have become. When he left the room, I took his glass and drank what was left. It made me calm. I finished the bottle. Papa was drunk. He’ll think it was him.

The following week:

We’re not going to Sicily this summer. Instead, Papa and I are flying to London and he’s going to take me to a psychiatrist to ‘cure’ me. I’ll pretend to go along with it, it’s the only way I’ll ever get back to G. It’s our only chance.

That was the last entry.

I lay the diary open, face down, on the bed and sat there for a long time considering what I’d just read. It was shocking that Anna had been pretty much held prisoner by her father to keep her away from the lover with whom she was planning to elope. It was sickening to think of Anna’s own father treating her so badly, beating her, and in some ways even worse to read of her mother’s coldness in refusing to speak to her. But I could understand why they were behaving like this. Anna’s parents were panicking. They’d uncovered her plan and were desperate to stop her leaving with Gabriele Arnone. I had a niggling sympathy. I’d seen the pictures. I knew that Gabriele had been an attractive young man, confident and charismatic. He probably had a strong sexual appeal to which Anna responded. How terrifying for her wealthy, respectable parents to think of her absconding with a young thug, a Mafioso; marrying him, bearing his children. She was their only surviving child. She’d been burdened with the weight of their expectations. They were deeply religious and once Anna was married, as far as they were concerned, that would be her lot, for life. Anything she inherited would go to Gabriele too. No wonder they were trying to keep her away from him. No wonder they were doing everything they could to keep the young lovers apart. Their efforts to protect Anna might have been clumsy, cruel even, and even if their motivation was partly to avoid scandal, they had also been acting out of love. It was an awful situation for them all.