02854cam a22003853u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000320011324000220014524500150016726400510018230000470023333600260028033700260030633800360033250000310036850800150039952016850041453400600209965300210215965300320218065300320221265300490224465300260229370000230231985600640234285600430240699900190244977111UtSlPG20260610134803.0mcr n260607r20251923utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPQ1 aDeledda, Grazia,d1871-193613aLa madre. English14aThe mother 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-10-22  aSean/IB@DP  a"The Mother" by Grazia Deledda is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in a remote Sardinian village, it is a stark psychological study of a young priest, Paul, his devoted mother Maria Maddalena, and Agnes, the solitary woman who awakens his forbidden desire. The story probes the clash between human love and religious duty, filtered through superstition, village poverty, and maternal anguish. Its tension is intimate and fateful, unfolding over a brief span with the inevitability of tragedy.  The opening of the novel follows a stormy night in which Maria Maddalena realizes Paul is slipping out to a woman’s house and, after failing to intervene, returns home torn between fear, faith, and a vivid, unsettling dream of the parish’s disgraced former priest. Paul, having just agreed to flee with Agnes, is shaken by the wind and his conscience, prays at the church door, then faces his mother; pressed by her quiet firmness, he swears to end the affair. Through a sleepless, tormented night he oscillates between resolve and longing, finally writing a letter to break it off; at dawn he celebrates Mass, chastens his meager flock, and has his mother deliver the note before being summoned to a dying hunter. Interwoven are memories that deepen the stakes: the mother’s recollection of their hopeful arrival in Aar and Paul’s of childhood shame at his mother’s servitude, seminary years, and an earlier encounter with a fallen woman. The section closes with domestic unease, the sacristan boy’s brisk chatter, and a pointed exchange about priestly celibacy, underscoring the moral conflict now set in motion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1923  aItaly -- Fiction  aMothers and sons -- Fiction  aSardinia (Italy) -- Fiction  aItalian fiction -- Translations into English  aPriesthood -- Fiction1 aSteegmann, Mary G.4 uhttps://archive.org/details/bwb_S0-CRT-584/page/n5/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77111  c117833d117833