a mother abandons an infant girl, placing her inside a 'foundling wheel' to be cared for in a foundling home, and the woman's husband gives up a young son as a carusu, a virtual slave in a sulfur mine; both actions intended to help the remaining family to survive in poverty-stricken racalmuto, in late-1800s sicily. it was common for families to give up their boys at the age of five as carusi, selling them to the mining company for life for a small price, and the parents treat it matter-of-factly as a regrettable but unavoidable decision. the plot follows the girl's life as a foundling, and her brother's labors in the mine, working ten-hour days in hellish conditions, and their interactions with family and co-workers. as plot devices, the author includes examples of napoleon-inspired recording of civil documents, and describes the sicilian conventions for selecting the given names of a family's children.