Description:Steeped in the landscape and colors of its locations, this deft and graceful novel about memory and discovery follows the orphaned Billie through her childhood in Italy to the United Kingdom during World War II with her adopted family, to art school, and then, finally, to a new life as an adult in Australia. With an evocative eye for personality and place, the narrative alternates between Billie's past, unearthed in her diaries and memories, and her present-day reclusive life on an Australian island, recently interrupted by the unannounced arrival of her niece, Lorelei, and Lorelei's daughter, Elissa, from England. As their lives intertwine, Billie comes to accept and appreciate the importance of family and identity as she faces the memories and secrets that she had hoped to forever leave behind.