"SOMETHING is going to happen to me!" Joe Hammond was in Rome on furlough after fifteen months at the front. It was to be seven days of excitement and pleasure -- a lifetime of love in one week. The first day he met Maria Consorti who gave him her body for a meal, and then abandoned him for an American capitano. Then he found Nina Bonte, business woman, who left her prosperous Bar Nazionale long enough to have a brief affair with him. And there was sad-eyed Gianna Aragno, too weak from hunger to give Joe her love, and lustful aging Carla Valsetti. Joe left Rome with a feeling of deep sadness for the Eternal City and for the young lives ruined and cast adrift by the war. Originally published in 1945, this is "A collection of poignant and vital stories by one of America’s most important young writers."