Author:Tennessee Williams

Mrs Stone changed from a famous, rich American actress to a notorious, very rich American widow. But the transition took years and all that time her youth and legendary beauty slipped away. So she escapes to Rome. But even the distractions of the Eternal City cannot stop old age wrinkling its way into her life. Frantic, she decides to take a lover, a young and very handsome Italian, being prepared to invest in his body for good return. But the price is too expensive. Not in money, but in her dignity.
'Gemmell is several rungs above the good - right into the fabulous'
—— Anne McCaffrey'The best fantasy inspires genuine involvement. David Gemmell's novels do just that'
—— InterzoneHis writing gives off whiffs of Conrad, of Nabokov, of Golding, of the Paul Theroux of The Mosquito Coast. But he is none of these, he is a harsh, compelling voice
—— Sunday TimesIntense, clear and powerful. The promise, so brilliantly fulfilled in his later work, is clear in this earliest novel
—— Daily Telegraph






