Portrait of a Woman

About the Book

Historically founded on the seventeenth century Stradivari family, PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN is a novel about Beatrice Stradivari, a young concert guitarist, and the two men who vie for her love; of an older Beatrice who, during World War II, rescues Italian Jews by crossing the Swiss border; finally, of an aging Beatrice, who, as a Benedictine nun, Mother Ambrose, catches the interest of a novelist who falls in love with her in his imagination. In his effort to translate his devotion into a novel, he searches out Mother Ambrose´s secret on the shores of Como, Istanbul, Dubrovnik, and Rome.

This single novel involves three interlocking stories woven into a seamless garment: a double romance, a thriller based on a priceless formula for varnish; a memoir of love lost and repossessed. Each story takes its turn illuminating the others, and ultimately, Mystery itself. PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN is a classic for the new millennium.

About the Author

Joseph Roccasalvo followed his graduate degrees in Philosophy, English Literature, and Theology with a Harvard Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and a specialty in Buddhism. He has lived and taught in Boston, Bangkokm and Chicago. For ten years in New York City, he was a professor of religious studies at Fordham University's Bronx and Lincoln Center Campus. He was also visiting professor of Buddhism in Lugano, Switzerland. Now engaged in full-time teaching, he devotes himself to two alliterative loves: prose and pastoral work. A hospital chaplaincy and seven novels ensued: Fire in a Windless Place, Beyond the Pale, Chartreuse, Portrait of a Woman, The Devil's Interval, The Powers that Be, and the Odor of Sanctity. These were followed by two books of short stories, Outwards Signs and The Mansions of Limbo; a play, Waging Waugh, and a memoir, As It Were.