After the Divorce: A Romance

In Short

Set in the rugged interior of Sardinia, the novel follows Giovanna Era, a young mother whose husband, Costantino, is wrongly sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison for murder. Pressured by her manipulative mother and grinding poverty, Giovanna utilizes a cold legal mechanism—a civil divorce allowed due to his long imprisonment—to marry Brontu Dejas, a wealthy but coarse local landowner. When the true murderer confesses and Costantino is unexpectedly freed, all involved are trapped in an agonizing web of religious guilt, ruined social ties, and lingering passion that law books cannot resolve.

The Story

The story opens in 1907 as Costantino Ledda stands trial and receives a twenty-seven-year prison sentence for a murder he did not commit. His young wife, Giovanna, and her mother, Aunt Bachissia, return home to their mountain village in complete despair. While Costantino endures the harsh, stifling realities of prison life—finding faint solace only in the eccentric ramblings of a fellow convict—Giovanna is left behind to raise their frail infant son, Malthineddu, in total destitution.

Exploiting her daughter's weakness, Aunt Bachissia schemes to secure their survival. She targets Brontu Dejas, the son of the wealthy, miserly Aunt Martina. Brontu has long lusted after Giovanna. Although Sardinia clings to strict Catholic traditions that view marriage as an indissoluble bond, Aunt Bachissia pushes Giovanna to exploit a state law that permits the spouse of a long-term convict to obtain a civil divorce and remarry.

Giovanna resists initially, but the death of her small son breaks her spirit. Overwhelmed by isolation and fear of starvings, she capitulates. She secures the divorce and marries Brontu. Yet the promised security turns to ashes: Brontu is a sullen heavy drinker, Aunt Martina treats Giovanna like an unwelcome intruder, and Giovanna herself is eaten alive by remorse, knowing she has betrayed the innocent man she still loves.

Far away in prison, Costantino receives the news through a cold administrative interrogation. The revelation crushes his spirit, but his life takes another dramatic turn when his old friend, the tortured shepherd Giacobbe Dejas, lies dying from a severe illness. Overcome by terror of damnation, Giacobbe makes a deathbed confession: it was he who committed the original murder.

Exonerated and released, Costantino returns to the village, broken and prematurely aged. Rather than bringing relief, his freedom plunges the community into a moral deadlock. Legally, Giovanna belongs to Brontu, with whom she now shares a frail child; sacramentally and emotionally, she remains bound to Costantino. The two former spouses begin meeting secretly, driven by a mixture of grief and undeniable attraction, while Aunt Martina plots vengeance to protect her family's name. Ultimately, Costantino realizes that worldly law offers no restoration; bound by conscience and religious faith, he resigns himself to waiting for the true justice of eternity.

How It Unfolds

The shadow of the prison Costantino is sentenced to twenty-seven years of penal servitude, leaving his wife Giovanna and mother-in-law Bachissia to face public shame, grief, and extreme poverty in their mountain village.

The seed of betrayal As Costantino languishes in exile, Aunt Bachissia arranges for the wealthy Brontu Dejas to visit Giovanna, urging her daughter to utilize civil divorce laws to secure a prosperous future.

The death of hope Giovanna’s young son dies in infancy, severing her last vital link to the past; broken by sorrow and financial ruin, she agrees to divorce Costantino and marry Brontu.

The prison revelation Prison officials inform Costantino that his wife has legally dissolved their marriage; the devastating news leaves him spiritually dead inside long before his physical sentence is served.

A confession in the dark The dying peasant Giacobbe Dejas, stricken with fever and haunted by religious terror, confesses to Priest Elias that he committed the murder for which Costantino was framed.

Return of the ghost Pardoned and released, Costantino walks back into his village as a free man, throwing Giovanna’s unhappy second household into utter turmoil and reigniting their hidden passion.

The inescapable bond Unable to live together under civil law yet incapable of staying apart in their hearts, Giovanna and Costantino meet in secret, accepting that their true reunion can only happen after death.

The People

• Giovanna Era: A young Sardinian woman who starts as a devoted wife and mother but is gradually hollowed out by grief, poverty, and family pressure. She yields to a civil divorce she despises, only to find her second marriage a prison of guilt and resentment.
• Costantino Ledda: Giovanna's first husband, an innocent, handsome young man who is broken by unjust imprisonment. Gentle and deeply religious, he returns to the world only to find his life stolen and his place occupied by another.
• Aunt Bachissia: Giovanna’s sharp, pragmatic mother. Driven by a fierce survival instinct and a dread of poverty, she relentlessly orchestrates her daughter's divorce and remarriage without concern for moral or spiritual consequences.
• Brontu Dejas: Giovanna's second husband, a wealthy, coarse landowner who drinks heavily. He desires Giovanna for her beauty but grows bitter and suspicious when he realizes she will never truly love him.
• Aunt Martina Dejas: Brontu’s mother, a hard, miserly matriarch who resents Giovanna’s intrusion into her household and harbors dark, vengeful thoughts to protect her family's wealth.
• Isidoro Pane: An old, pious fisherman who sings church lauds and acts as the voice of conscience and solidarity in the village, offering comfort to both Costantino and the isolated village outcasts.

In Its Own Voice

"He was there, and he was laughing. He was livid, and yet he laughed, standing there behind the bars."

Giovanna describes her haunting final visit with Costantino in prison, where grief and shock take on the ghastly appearance of joy.

"A presentiment tells me that the hour of my restoration to liberty is at hand."

Writing from his cell, Costantino expresses a tragic, naive confidence in divine mercy just as his wife begins the process of divorcing him.

"I was very fond of Costantino, and I cried just as long as I had any tears to shed."

Giovanna attempts to rationalize her upcoming remarriage, convincing herself that her practical survival is aligned with God's will.

What It's Really About

The novel examines the irresolvable conflict between institutional secular law and deeply ingrained folk traditions. When modern Italian legislation introduces civil divorce to remedy catastrophic circumstances, it collides directly with the island's unyielding religious conscience and social codes. Deledda explores how poverty strips people of their moral agency, driving decent individuals to make choices that destroy their inner peace. Ultimately, the story poses hard questions about justice: when human courts fail, can legal corrections ever undo the psychological and emotional destruction inflicted on innocent lives?

Why Read It Today

Grazia Deledda—who became the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926—offers a stark, evocative portrait of rural Sardinia that feels both grounded in time and timelessly mythic. Readers who appreciate psychological realism and atmospheric landscape writing will be captivated by her ability to weave harsh mountain terrain, ancient folk customs, and intense interior drama together.

The prose avoids melodramatic theatricality; instead, it delivers a quiet, relentless build of tension as characters navigate the consequences of their own choices. The novel does present certain historical hurdles for modern readers, including its deliberate, slow-burning pace and the rigid, patriarchal social structures of early twentieth-century Italy. Yet these elements serve a purpose, illustrating how tightly the characters are bound by their environment. What stays with you long after finishing is Deledda's empathetic treatment of flawed human beings, capturing the tragic weight of loneliness and the fragile search for redemption in a world that offers no easy answers.