Synopsis

Perhaps Lapo and Emma's parents were once happy together. But that time, if there ever was one, Lapo was too young to remember; Emma hadn't yet been born. A time when Lucrezia, their mother obsessed with Hollywood actors, wasn't constantly disappearing from their lives, and Gioacchino, their doctor father, wasn't withdrawn into his own silence. Between Rome, Calabria, and their lakeside house, amidst betrayals and abandonments, accompanied by reading Peanuts and inventing distant worlds to escape to, the two Callipo brothers grow up, always on the verge of seeing their lives fall apart. They create fantastic worlds where Emma can simply be "Peppermint," Prince Arthur's wife, an adventurous child full of friends and a sense of humor. The passing of the years doesn't change the situation at home, but growing up adds to the usual torments and Emma's chronic loss of appetite. At 16, thanks to his friend Amedeo, who is much more confident and experienced than him, Lapo meets Greta, with whom he discovers sex and love. Emma (who has now completely lost her Peppermint) also becomes attached to Greta, but neither brother has the courage to talk to her about their pain, even though Greta, in her own way, is part of the "brotherhood of abandonment." Thus, when Lucrezia once again leaves the house where they all live together as if in captivity, the situation escalates. It will be the bond between siblings, once again, that saves Lapo and Emma: only together will they understand how the responsibilities and blame for their lack of love are much more difficult to assign than they had thought. With a writing skill unheard of for his age, Francesco Mila tells a story of affection and protection, a family story reminiscent of Morante's Aracoeli and which conveys intact the desire for love and the fear of shame of any adolescent.