This is the portrait of an unusual woman and a memoir of an already distant era, brought alive again by her story. Her two identities are tied to Italy before the Second World War and to post-war Britain. Paulina D'Offizi is full of contradictions as her life was full of contrasts. Her story emerges through digressions and various points-of-view. She is a domineering woman and a demanding mother, to whom her child means the whole world. And the world is full of disappointments and unexpected twists of fate.