As a teenager, Karen read an excerpt from Alan Alda's commencement speech to the Connecticut College class of 1980, and remarkably, his words still inspire her. Mr. Alda said to the young graduates, "You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing, but what you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself." Since then, Karen has challenged herself personally and professionally to live on that outside edge of comfortable and writing this debut novel did just that. Not a classically trained writer, she had a story to tell about life experiences: Gutsy romantic love (something not easily found and often lost), soul-tickling romantic Italy, delectable food and wine (especially Chianti) and passionate living and traveling. So she put pen to paper, not sure of what she was getting herself into. The experience was sometimes easy and often challenging, but it was always exhilarating and satisfying. She definitely traveled outside of her "city of comfort," but it was undoubtedly worth the hard work and risk. Karen Ross is the granddaughter of an Italian immigrant name Giorgio Rondinara of Vico nel Lazio, Frosinone, Italy. When he because a U.S. citizen he wanted