Francine is caught between two worlds: one in which she feels at home but stunted and one in which she feels dominant but distant, all the while balancing her precariously regimented mental health. A wild child living in 1970s London, manic-depressive Francine must prove to herself and the watchful eyes of her father and psychiatrists that she is capable of more in order to attain the stimulating lifestyle she desires. She finally lands a job in New York and makes the jump only to find out she is pregnant by her rock-and-roll ex-boyfriend back in London. The New York life she idolized is fast and moneyed, but Francine quickly realizes that escape is not necessarily a solution. Torn between American success, motherhood, and the life she left behind, Francine's independence has never felt so costly.

Decades later, Francine's daughter Margherita accompanies her architect father to the island of Mustique, where he oversees the development of a new resort while Margherita plans an ambitious project of her own. Unable to mend her fraught relationship with her mother, she adopts her dictum: "don't let anyone make you feel small." Eager to embody Francine's fierce spirit, Margherita heads to Italy's Ligurian coast to revitalize a dilapidated villa and turn it into a chic, seaside hotel. When the project-and Marghe's tenacity-begin to splinter, she finds herself retracing Francine's steps from London to Big Sur, in search of the one person whose opinion and guidance means the most. How does one learn to be close to a loved one from their past while also growing boldly away from them?

Kiss My Jagged Face, the second work of fiction in the ITALIAN LESSONS series, shines a spotlight on self-control, the art of finding home, and explores the yin to courage's yang: facing the fear that comes with it.