After conflict comes the struggle to reclaim humanity. And, at the centre of it all, a love story, in Shirley Hazzard’s sweeping drama.
Multi-award-winning Australian author Shirley Hazzard unfolds this intimate emotional drama in war-time Italy, against the fading grandeur of Naples.
Lonely and rootless, Jenny arrives in the ancient city of Naples, fleeing her own history. Acting on a whim, she idly follows up a letter of introduction and so changes her life forever. Her blossoming friendship with the beautiful and talented Gioconda expands to make room for a fascinatingly inscrutable Scotsman and for Gioconda’s lover, Gianni. These three newfound friends require of Jenny much more than she had foreseen, while gradually revealing to her the changing face of love.
Shirley Hazzard’s 1970 novel was one of the six books shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker, in 2010.
Shirley Hazzard
About the Author
Shirley Hazzard was born in Sydney, Australia to a Welsh father and Scottish mother. She wrote works of fiction and non-fiction.Other nominated books by Shirley Hazzard
