This is the story of Maria, a beautiful forty year old Italian woman from Milan. Set in the mid-seventies of the last century it tells of her development as a person, leaving a comfortable bourgeois existence for the life of a promising artist. A chance encounter with a young journalist encourages her to develop her childhood gift for drawing and helped by Victoria, famous and a true friend, she approaches the world of art.The book is packed with colourful, interesting characters and the dramatic scenery of the Italian/French Alps, the dynamic Mittel European atmosphere of Milan and Trieste, a glimpse of sun-kissed Sicily, form a backcloth to the events in Maria's life. But above all it is an important Love Story - Maria's love for Marc.