Both found their way to America. Alice works as a mathematician in Santa Monica, California, and Adam is a professor of archaeology at a small college in central Pennsylvania. Both, for their own reasons, greet news of the possibility of recovering the mansion as a welcome development in their respective lives and file the necessary papers seeking its return.
The shock to each after being informed the other has filed a competing claim strengthens their resolve. Eventually, they meet face to face where their initial animosity is slowly worn away as they come to know one another. A week-long sojourn on the island of Sardinia brings their relationship to a new level and poses a dilemma that each must resolve if a satisfactory outcome is to be achieved.
JOSEPH W. MICHELS is a novelist who makes his home in San Francisco. His earlier works, OUTBOUND FROM VIRGINIA and BICYCLE DREAMS, tell the stories of men who reflect the independence and optimism of a rapidly changing America in the period from 1890 to the 1930's. His more recent novels follow the ongoing adventures of WILLIAM CHURCH, an ex-FBI agent turned freelance recovery specialist. The first book in the series is entitled CHURCH, followed by THE KINGSTONE RANSOM and FRENCH DIAMONDS.