"Oh, Serafina! is a fable for adults about ecology, lunacy, and love. The protagonist, Augustus the Second Valle, is the grandson of the founder of the FIFA button factory in Lombardy. He inherits the factory, but his main interest is the birds who live in the surrounding gardens and whom he, like Saint Francis, talks to on a regular basis. Augustus also has a lusty sexual appetite, which he satisfies with one of the factory workers, Palmira. She connives to have him declared incompetent so she can sell the factory and pocket the proceeds. Augustus is committed to a mental hospital where he meets Serafina, a flower child, who dresses in Indian prints, plays a flute, and "receives messages from the universe." They are released and escape to her father's country villa, where they go to "live happily ever after" with the birds from the FIFA and asylum gardens"--