Italian writer Alessandra Selmi has written a novel about a pioneering textile colony in Bergamo, Italy. Selmi spent two years researching the Crespi family and invented the rest of the characters.

The town is today a UNESCO heritage site. The company's archives belong to the Capriate San Gasio City Council, but there are essays about the human story that were missing. "I build the characters, the framework and the data are real," says writer Alessandro Grassani.