Describe what Ofelia, Sveva’s mother, was like.
– She was beautiful and fashionable, and she was raised in a wealthy family.
-- She didn’t fit in to Vernon way of life and she didn’t learn much English.
– She was afraid of being alone and she was manipulative. She said, “If you leave me, I will die.”

What are some reasons why the Caetani family left Italy and came to Canada?
– To avoid political oppression of Italy under the Mussolini government.
– Society would have frowned on Leone’s second family because he could not be divorced and so could not marry Ofelia.
– Leone had good memories of B.C. when he came to the Kootenays to hunt as a young man.
– Leone looked forward to the political freedom, social freedom and simple lifestyle. He was an idealist and he wanted to live where there was equality among people rather than a class system where people were judged on the status of the family they were born into rather than on their own merits.

Why do you think Ofelia did not make many friends in Vernon?
– She was shy and didn’t learn to speak English very well.
– She was different than most other people in Vernon, and she probably felt like she didn’t fit in.
– She was used to a different kind of life. She was used to living like a well-to-do European.
– She already had Miss Juul to be her friend.

Why do you think Sveva called her series of paintings Recapitulation?
– Recapitulation means to sum up or to repeat. She was looking back over her life in her paintings. The paintings are the story of her life.
-- She was also examining her relationship with her parents, the two most important people in her life.