On Sunday, the Dante Society of Westerly, an organization celebrating Italian culture, hosts author Juliet Grames, who will discuss and sign copies of her much-acclaimed “The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna.” The title of the program is “Reclaiming the Legacy of Our Italian Grandmothers,” and it takes place in the auditorium at the Westerly Public Library.

The novel is about the Fortuna family, which emigrates from Calabria, Italy, to New England shortly before World War II and at the tail end of the Great Depression. The eponymous title character, who seems touched by an odd magic, is the principal connective in a narrative that details the eroding bond between once-close sisters, family hardships in a new country, and the obstacles faced in particular by women.

Grames, a Hartford native, graduated from Oxford and, in addition to her writing career, is a longtime editor at Soho Books.

Juliet Grames, 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Westerly Public Library, 44 Broad St., Westerly; free, copies of the book available for purchase; westerlylibrary.org, (401) 596-2877.