After a bomb destroys a railway carriage, the four survivors repair to the villa of one, Mrs Delahunty, a writer of romance novels, a woman with a past The others are an aging British general, a young German man, and Aimee, an American girl orphaned in the blast As these four strangers recover in Umbria s countryside and become friends, Aimee s uncle, a cold and childless academic who studies red carpenter ants, arrives to fetch her Mrs Delahunty fears this may not be in Aimee s best interests, begins to drink heavily, and fails in her attempts to connect with Aimee s uncle Meanwhile, a persistent detective investigates the blast Written by lt jhailey hotmail com gt