Author Description

Dotty, a young Englishwoman, travels to Switzerland in 1967 to escape a failing relationship. There she meets Patrick, a charming but unpredictable and unprincipled specialist in Egyptian and Etruscan antiquities. He is planning to earn a very large pay-off by undervaluing an Italian client's remarkable collection, thus enabling his associates to buy it at a price far below the market value. The story follows the pair around Switzerland and Italy, their painful love affair developing, as Patrick pursues his fraudulent goal. We see Italy and Venice through Dotty's eyes as she discovers more about herself and what she wants, while the scheme unfolds to its dramatic conclusion.