Before leaving Sciculla, his island of origin, a volcanic and black land, to move to Sguizza, a windy and icy island, journalist Fosco Gargarozzo seduces Fanìa and then abandons her. Little does he know, however, that Fanìa is sacred, and the sacrilege he commits summons a demon to incarnate. Oxymoros, or Tano Lamorte, rises from the volcano’s fluid lava core as a demon in the flesh. In a pinstripe suit, with a poppy sprouting from his buttonhole, by his own mission and admission, he must ravage the lives of Fosco, Ambrosia, his wife, and the women who will descend from them – Robinia, Fosca, and Moth – with the dark evil of absence and separation. The curse, however, transmutes through the generations and makes its journey into a mysterious world, which inextricably links the two islands and the Smoke Factory, an empire that strives for mass mind control through cigarette tobacco.
Francesca Fretti was born and grew up in Switzerland, maintaining strong ties with her Sicilian origins on her mother’s side. She lives in the mountains with her partner and four children. She studied literature, art history and philosophy. A researcher and observer of the 5 biological laws, systemic constellations and the enneagram, she is passionate about poisonous plants.