The Sweetest Oblivion

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of imbalanced power dynamics in intimate relationships, graphic violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and gender discrimination.

Elena Abelli is the main character of the novel. Her parents are Salvatore and Celia Abelli and her younger sister is Adriana Abelli. In the narrative present, Elena is 21 years old and living on Long Island, New York, with her family. Although the “red front door and golden knocker” on her home’s facade suggest that her life is peaceful, Elena has never “lived a picturesque life” (19). Salvatore is a mafia boss, and the Abellis are deeply entrenched in the Cosa Nostra—or New York mafia. Elena is therefore accustomed to violence, unpredictability, and constant conflict. She’s also learned that to navigate this world she must don her Sweet Abelli persona—a facade that affords her the illusion of safety. As the Sweet Abelli, Elena is kind, gentle, polite, and demure. She inhabits this role to appease her family and often to pacify the volatile men in her world. Over time however, the Sweet Abelli begins to feel increasingly entrapping for Elena. She has dreams and opinions of her own that abrade this persona.