Remembrance Author:Steel, Danielle The novel begins in the bitter turmoil of post-World War II Italy. 19 year old Serena returns home from war years spent in the safety of an American convent. She finds her family dead, her gracious childhood home sold, her only remaining posession an empty family title: Serena, Principessa di San Tibaldo, princess of broken dreams. When Sere... more »na meets American Major Brad Fullerton, it seems like the end to all her bad dreams. Brad and Serena fall in love in Rome, marry in Paris, and return to America filled with plans for a gloriously happy life together. Their joy is darkened by the disapproval of Brad's family and a secret that follows them to their new home in San Francisco--a secret that brings a new kind of pain to Serena and her baby daughter, Vanessa, when Brad is lost to them in Korea. A twist of fate takes Serena from California to New York, where she is propelled into a new love tht is like the collision of two falling stars. The aftermath of that explosion shapes and shadows the destiny of the two beautiful daughters whose womanhood Serena never lives to see. In a brilliantly crafted climax it is her mother's legacy of love that finally sets Vanessa free from the fears that no other love could dispel, restoring not only her past but also her future.« less