Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
In 1935, Susan Shawe abandons England for Mussolini's Italy, marrying a Fascist official and cutting herself off from her family. Thirty-seven years later, her nephew Charlie follows her path to Rome, hoping escape will give his life direction.
There he meets Rosa, Susan's daughter: beautiful, enigmatic, and a member of the revolutionary movement Lotta Continua. But as Rosa draws Charlie into her world, he discovers that the passions and violence of an earlier generation have not disappeared -- they've only changed their language.
Seductive and atmospheric, Chronicle of a Dream is a psychologically sharp literary thriller about ideological power, a dangerous legacy, and a past that repeats itself with devastating consequences.