Told from the standpoint of a teenager who is a "gifted child," made lonely by his extraordinary mental abilities, this is a coming-of-age story like no other. It is also a family saga set in Sicily where Tony goes searching for his family roots. He drifts into a palazzo with a strange name over the door, the "Circle of Conversation," filled with people in disguise. But this is no costume ball. The Circle is a place out of Time, dark and humid, where the ghosts of his ancestors mill about and converse, waiting for Judgment Day - among them, a beautiful woman with deep, black eyes that promise love. But the door slams shut behind him, Tony is trapped. His trip to Sicily, meant as a simple voyage of self-discovery, has turned into a nightmare. How can he shake off the past and find himself? Reviews: 1. from Sicilian literary critics when the book came out in Italian (published by E.Romeo): >like dreaming with open eyes through Time - Diario di Siracusa >emotional, but above all fantastic, surreal, meta-psychical, out of time and reality - Liberta > An authentic excursion in the past - La Sicilia 2. Selected reviews when it first came out in English (in an early version, "Fear of the Past"): >a bit Alice in Wonderland, a bit Dante's Inferno, and a lot about coming of age and self-discovery (Author Joseph Badal) >Good read not only for teenagers but also for grown ups looking for something different (Film maker Magda Olchawska) >symbolic of universal emotions and human foibles, sometimes making them larger than life (Author Karen Rose Smith)"