Enjoying his student days in Florence, Colm becomes friends with Robin, a rootless American girl. In the intense embrace of youth they help each other face the horror of their pasts. Before parting, they promise to meet again in Florence on his fiftieth birthday.
In the autumn of 1996 Colm travels back to Florence, burdened with the recall of events he wants to forget, and half-remembering the promise of a tryst made twenty-eight years earlier.
This time, in the heat and shade of Florence, darker memories will stir. A mature man will see the city and its citizens—particularly Paola, his calm and alluring landlady and her studious, ailing son—with a different and more sensitive eye. His is a journey of self-discovery, love, and absolution.
In The Promise, Mary Ryan once again delivers the moving, emotionally charged story that her fans have come to expect.