The Italian phrase Mai due senza tre-"never two without
three"-forms the basis of Andrea Lee’s spellbinding novel of
betrayal. Sophisticated and richly told, Lost Hearts in
Italy reveals a trio caught in the grip of desire,
deception, and remorse.
When Mira Ward, an American,
relocates to Rome with her husband, Nick, she looks forward
to a time of exploration and awakening. Young, beautiful,
and in love, Mira is on the verge of a writing career, and
giddy with the prospect of living abroad.
On the trip
over, Mira meets Zenin, an older Italian billionaire, who
intrigues Mira with his coolness and worldly mystique. A few
weeks later, feeling idle and adrift in her new life, Mira
agrees to a seemingly innocent lunch with Zenin and is soon
catapulted into an intense affair, which moves beyond her
control more quickly than she intends. Her job as a travel
writer allows clandestine trysts and opulent getaways with
Zenin to Paris, Monte Carlo, London, and Venice, and over
the next few years, now the mother of a baby daughter, she
struggles between resisting and relenting to this man who
has such a hold on her. As her marriage erodes, so too does
Mira’s sense of self, until she no longer resembles the free
spirit she was on her arrival in the on her arrival in
the Eternal City.
Years later, Mira and Nick, now
divorced and remarried to others, look back in an attempt to
understand their history, while a detached Zenin assesses
his own life and his role in the unlikely love triangle.
Each recounts the past, aided by those witness to their
failure and fallout. An elegant, raw, and emotionally
charged read, Lost Hearts in Italy is a classic
coming-of-age story in which cultures collide, innocence
dissolves, and those we know most intimately remain foreign
to us.
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