The War is just over. In Venice a city elaborately & affectionately described the American Colonel Richard Cantrell falls passionately in love with Renata a young Italian countess who has a profile that could break your or anyone elses heart. Cantrell is embittered war-scarred & old enough to be Renatas father but he is overwhelmed by the selflessness & freshness of the love she is offering. But this is no fairy tale. The fighting may be ended but the wounds of war have not yet healed. & for some the longed-for peace has come too late. A lesser known classic by one of the great American writers of the twentieth century Across the River & Into The Trees is still vintage Hemingway.