The Evening of the Holiday

Passionate undercurrents sweep in and out of this eloquent novel about a love affair in the Italian countryside and its inevitable conclusion. The story takes place in a setting of pastoral beauty during a time of celebration—a summer festival.

Sophie, half English, half Italian, meets Tancredi, an Italian who is separated from his wife and family. In telling the story of their love affair, author Shirley Hazzard punctures the placid surface of polite Italian society to reveal the intense yearnings and surprising responses of sophisticated people caught up in emotions they do not always understand.