Lilia Herriton Timeline and Summary
MoreLilia Herriton Timeline and Summary
- Lilia gets ready to travel to Italy with her companion, Miss Caroline Abbott.
- She is swept away by the beauty and charm of Italy, and even falls for a hot young Italian named Gino Carella, who is the son of a country dentist in Monteriano.
- When Philip comes to bring Lilia back to Sawston (the Herritons are 100% against her engagement to a foreigner), Lilia drops the news that she's already married.
- She settles into a comfortable routine in Monteriano and married life seems to agree with her during the first few months.
- Lilia talks endlessly about planning tea parties and inviting important members of society over, and Gino indulges her at first.
- But gradually, Lilia grows bored and tensions start brewing between the newlyweds.
- Gino forbids Lilia to take walks on her own because it is frowned upon in Italy. Lilia counters that she took solitary walks all the time in England and it was perfectly respectable. As their arguments worsen, Lilia begins to wonder whether she made a mistake in marrying Gino.
- When Lilia learns that Gino hasn't been faithful to her, she realizes that he had only married her for her money.
- One day, she feels so sick of being cooped up in the house that she disobeys Gino and goes for a walk by herself.
- During her stroll, a carriage headed to the train station drives by, and for a split second, Lilia contemplates hopping on and returning back to Sawston.
- She runs after the carriage, but the driver doesn't hear her. Lilia faints from exhaustion, and when she wakes back up, it's already dark. Gino will be furious with her.
- When she returns home, Gino launches into a screaming match with her, but this time Lilia doesn't take it lying down. She fights back, and the argument ends in a stalemate.
- Terribly unhappy, Lilia writes home to Irma about her miseries, but Mrs. Herriton intercepts the letter before Irma can read it.
- Desperate to save her marriage, Lilia is convinced that her last hope is to bear Gino a baby son.
- She becomes pregnant, but in the span of less than one page, the narrator tells us that Lilia has died giving birth to a baby boy. (If you're shocked by this, join the club.)