An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser is the chronicle of a life rebuilt after the shock of a husband's swift and brutal departure. When the author's husband left her for his high school sweetheart, Fraser traveled to Florence to spend some time with friends and to put distance on her pain. When Florence was not far enough, she traveled to Ischia off the coast of Naples and there met M., a married and French university professor and aesthetician. The romance, begun as a holiday fling, deepened into a commitment to la bella vita. Fraser and M. continued their affair for two years always meeting in far-flung and gorgeous locales such as Lake Maggiore, Marrakech and the Aeolian Islands. Each rendezvous deepened the couple's affection for each other and made them stronger in their lives at home. Ultimately, Fraser gained an appreciation of her spirited exuberance, found security in her strengths, and accepted that her life's journey is truly written by the day.

In this issue of Bold Type, Laura Fraser has contributed an essay about marriage, some pointers on Italian customs to ease you into the local culture, and key phrases that any bella donna might find useful. You can listen to them and then print them out for future reference. You can also listen to the author reading from An Italian Affair or read the excerpt.

--Catherine McWeeney