This is an absorbing novel touching on World War I by Italian writer Annie Vivanti. Her experience of war and political engagement often mingled with the themes of her works. Excerpt «Chérie was ready first. She flung her striped bath-robe over her shoulders and picked up Amour who was wriggling and barking at her pink heels. “Au revoir dans l'eau,” she said to little Mireille and to the German nursery governess, Frieda. «Oh, Frieda, vite, vite, dégrafez-moi,” cried Mireille, backing towards the hard-faced young woman and indicating a jumble of knotted tapes hanging down behind her.”
