L'Isola Di Simone

Revenge fantasies begin to fade when an American divorcee finds
sanctuary and adventure in Italy. While recovering from her losses she
enjoys the intimacy of small town life, ponders the future from her window
on a lake, and revels in a succession of both comedic and serious lovers.

Her memoir is about the islands one finds on a map - others, places where
she says arrivederci to her former existence and embraces life Italian style:
high heels on motorcycles, prosecco toasts atop a castle in Rome, sensual
nights which end when the sky grows light - exhilarating moments
provided by the highly romantic and sometimes volatile Italian male. Yet
like an Italian opera, her story not only celebrates voluptuous characters
and settings: it's also perforated by shocking deaths.

On a November night in Rome, a gifted but alarmingly young man appears
and leaves an indelible impression. On his island, he and the writer explore
their obsession with each other during the year she almost abandons hope,
but instead succeeds like the Romans: simply by enduring.

". when he is an old man - and I no longer walk this planet - his
grandsons will learn about the American woman he loved, the daring
things we did in order to be together. He'll show them a book called L'Isola
di Simone, and they'll believe that the old man once had the power to
change a lady's mind, to create an island of faith where passion prevails
and the poetry of love is written."