Many of these stories were written by Aline Valangin in Comologno in the Onsernone Valley, to read to her guests, including Ignazio Silone, bringing variety to the long evenings in the remote mountain village. The stories are set in a narrow Ticinese mountain valley. Aline Valangin is a keen observer of the village and its inhabitants, and her tales depict clever tricksters and rebels, drinkers and outsiders, as well as women who experienced and had to endure the hardships and challenges of life most directly. In her stories, she does not seek the idyllic, romanticized Ticino, but rather the primal, wild passions. Her characters are true, intense, and vibrant. Together, the stories form a compelling portrait of Ticino in the 1930s and 1940s, unvarnished, realistic, and virtuosic.