The Bay of Noon : A Novel

Long out of print, Shirley Hazzard's classic novel of love and memory

A young Englishwoman working in Naples, Jenny comes to Italy fleeing a history that threatened to undo her. Alone in the fabulously ruined city, she idly follows up a letter of introduction from an acquaintance and so changes her life forever. Through the letter, she meets Giocanda, a beautiful and gifted writer, and Gianni, a famous Roman film director and Giocanda's lover. At work she encounters Justin, a Scotsman whose inscrutability Jenny finds mysteriously attractive. As she becomes increasingly involved in the lives of these three, she discovers that the past--and the patterns of a lifetime--are not easily discarded.

“Drawn so perfectly that it seems to breathe.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Hazzard's prose is clean, witty, playful, and economical. It weaves an armchair traveler's dream landscape.” —The New York Times

“Hazzard applies her intelligence to produce a shock of recognition in the reader. . .and she has succeeded brilliantly.” —The New Yorker