Something terrible hapened to Catherine Gaillard when she was a small child -- something so traumatic that for thirty years she couldn't bring herself to leave Montview, the cloistered mountain top college town in Tennessee where she grew up. Now, for the first time, she and Joe have ventured out of their haven into the careening panorama of Italy to attend the Roman wedding of their Montview friends Colin and Maria. Gradually, however, Cat becomes enthralled by Italy's hectic beauty and vitality. She is seduced by everything: art and architecture, food and wine, the sheer living weight of its history. She burns to share it all with Joe, but as her old fear heals and she grows stronger; he seems to turn away from her. It is almost as if Italy diminishes Joe.
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