A powerful, emotional, and redemptive novel about the interwoven lives of mothers and daughters and the bonds of an ancient craft that link them through two world wars and beyond.

In 1930s Sardinia, Allegra and her daughters maintain the tradition of the water women. As it was for the generations of Jewish mothers and daughters before her, weaving the fine threads of mollusks into golden cloth and tapestry is an honor, a duty, and a precious gift to an outside world that seems bent on turmoil.

By 1942, a threat comes to their sleepy fishing village. Germany has pressed its boot on Italy. Allegra’s daughter Zaneta notices boats she’s never seen before anchored off the shore. As her family withdraws from the once-unified community, their island home sinks into a fog of fear and suspicion. Then Zaneta meets a German deserter. With the encounter comes a secret that will haunt Zaneta forever, and in the years to come, her own daughter, Mira, as well.

For three women, the threads of the byssus weave a story of love, war, loss, and hope that will challenge them and bind them through the most trying times of their lives.