E allora si rammentarono che quelle erano proprio le notti delle stelle cadenti, e a seguito di quell'informazione van der Straaten si mise non solo a contarle, ma in un crescendo arrivò a dire "che in realtà ogni cosa al mondo esiste unicamente per cadere: le stelle, gli angeli, con un'unica eccezione: le donne".
(pagine 88-9) ( )

As it says in the title, this is the story of an adultress, which takes place in 19th century Berlin. Unlike Effi Briest, it ends more or less happily.
Considering that the husband is a successful businessman, the tale moves in a very restricted circle of characters: the couple, a handful of relatives and family friends, the house guest turned lover. The elder daughter rejects her mother at the first meeting after the divorce and remarriage, but since we hardly got to know her in the preceding pages, we don't care. It is difficult to get involved in the action or a sense of the huge step Melanie takes when she elopes with her lover. Baffling. ( )