Positano, on Italy's Amalfi Coast, is the setting for a complex tale that focuses on friendship, love, and the legacy of the past upon the present. The story is passionate, as well as poetic, humorous and rich in folklore. In 1952, thirty year old Miranda Arnold, recently divorced, returns to her native Italy with Johnny, her five year old son. After fourteen years of separation she is reunited with her friend Nina, who lives in Positano with James, her troubled English companion. Although the two young women remain traumatized by their pasts, they have an emotional anchor in one another. On...

About this book: Who is this small being on the street of the East German city of Chemnitz; this unfinished creature and mere larva child? In the first part of her book, Gabriella Mautner paints a picture of Jewish life in the 20's and 30's. Then comes the frightening year 1933. "Once in exile your childhood is over. Even if you are free of the iron prison which Chemnitz meant for us at the end. The exile robs you of your friends, your laughter, your joy. All at once you have aged through the pain of separation and the wounds of uprootedness." In 1998 Gabriella Mautner was invited to return...

Vacationing seaside with her parents in Rimini, Italy, young Nicole Steiner falls in love with the charming Italian nobleman, Dario Ventura. Soon after, Ventura frequently visits with the Steiners, now home in Turin. Though he returns her affection, Nicole begins to suspect that he has become her mother's lover. The relationship is complicated by the strong tie between mother and daughter, and Nicole's rejection of her stern father. Woven through the tale is the rich atmosphere of pre-war Italy.