Long out of print, Shirley Hazzard's classic novel of love and
memory A young Englishwoman working in Naples, Jenny comes to Italy
fleeing a history that threatened to undo her. Alone in the
fabulously ruined city, she idly follows up a letter of
introduction from an acquaintance and so changes her life forever.
Through the letter, she meets Giocanda, a beautiful and gifted
writer, and Gianni, a famous Roman film director and Giocanda s
lover. At work she encounters Justin, a Scotsman whose
inscrutability Jenny finds mysteriously attractive. As she becomes
increasingly involved in the lives of these three, she discovers
that the past - and the patterns of a lifetime - are not easily
discarded.
Miss Hazzard's mind is a revolving light that picks a scene, holds it in utmost clarity for a moment against the surrounding darkness and moves on New York TIMES Shirley Hazzard achieves an extraordinary density of tone in this slim little book, which is as poised and vivid today as when it was first published in 1970 IRISH TIMES
Shirley Hazzard was born in Sydney in 1931. She has lived in Hong Kong, New Zealand and New York where she worked for the United Nations. She is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy Award and the O. Henry Short Story Award.
