Desdemona and Eleutherios (Lefty) Stephanides Timeline & Summary

Desdemona and Lefty are Greek siblings who live in Turkey, where Desdemona weaves silk and Lefty hangs out at bars.
When the Turks attack Smyrna, Desdemona and Lefty flee to America.
They also realize that they're in love with each other, so they pretend to not be related and get married on the boat.
In America, they move to Detroit with their cousin Sourmelina and her husband, Jimmy Zizmo.
Lefty works at the Ford Motor Factory. After they fire him, he smuggles liquor with Jimmy Zizmo, who crashes the car into a frozen lake one night and dies.
When the depression hits (the Great one), Desdemona gets a job at the Nation of Islam temple, weaving silk.
They have two kids, Milton and Zoë, and Lefty opens his own bar, the Zebra Room.
Eventually, the kids grow up and have kids of their own. Milton takes over the family business and pushes Lefty out of it.
Lefty starts gambling, and he and Desdemona have to move in with Milton and Tessie.
When their grandchild Calliope is born, Lefty has a stroke.
Lefty eventually dies, and Desdemona shuts herself up in her bed for ten years. We hope she changed the sheets every two years or so…
At the end of the novel, Desdemona finally confesses to Cal that she and Lefty were brother and sister.