Julia PurdyThe original author, Giuseppe Berto, was an Italian army officer held in a prisoner of war camp in Hereford, Texas, where he wrote this novel. Berto promotes neither side of the conflict, although two of the characters have a lengthy discussion aboutthe changing world and what the war will mean for Italian society and culture. Berto authored other later works as well. He died in 1978 at age 63. Julia Purdy was born Giulia Ersilia Falanga to an American mother and Neapolitan father, who met and married in the winter of 1994 in Naples. Born and residing in Vermont, she lives with the cat, Ivy. She is a published writer and free-lance journalist since 1976. Read More Read Less