The world's darkest hour had made her a ghost. Only he can see the light ... Rome, 1950s: Unmoored in the Eternal City, Hal Jacobs makes ends meet as a second-rate journalist. Once, he might have been a novelist, but his creativity died with his friends on Europe's battlefield. Then a chance invitation – a party held by an elderly contessa – sets him on a new course. Here he meets Stella, a fellow outcast, and for a few hours he imagines a new life. The contessa has a vision for Hal, too. A collector of people as others collect curiosities, she proffers another invitation. Hal will cover the promotional tour for a new Italian film, on a yacht sailing towards Cannes. Of all the luminaries aboard – an Italian ingénue, an American star, a reclusive director – only one holds Hal in thrall: Stella. And while each has a past that belies the gilded surface, she has the most to hide. To become the thing she is now, a darling of New York society, she has shed all she once was. The girl who fled war-torn Madrid has been lost to view. The man who saved her – who remade her – has made sure of it. Hal, so guarded with his own past, has a talent for unveiling others'. Gradually, all yield their secrets to him. But the darkness in Stella's is hardest to bring into the light – and, as Hal pulls at the thread, the truth brings a danger he could never have foreseen . . .
