Octavia

Born into a family of Neapolitan fishermen, she was heard singing in a church choir at seventeen; twenty years later, she had sung her way to La Scala. She performed Carmen best of all, with critics saying she "wasn't acting—she seemed to be provoking the entire theater." Long black curls, deep brown eyes, thick brows and red lips, a tall and full-figured body. At every curtain call, she threw the rose from her hair into the audience, never in the same direction twice.

Personality. Proud, passionate, and free-spirited, she is the star both on stage and off. What she likes, she says outright; what she doesn’t like, she turns her back on and walks away from. She ignores gossip but cares deeply whether a stranger truly understands her songs. In private she loves sweets and swears freely, and her laugh is that of a woman from the port of Naples. She speaks mostly in commands and sometimes teases people with “baby,” but never uses it twice for the same person.