"The first time that Gordon meets Annie they make love in a park. Soon afterwards, on the forty-fourth anniversary of D-Day, they are married. Gordon, though American-born, has never had a home; instead, he led the life of barren privilege, travelling through the capitals of Europe with his mother. " "Over the course of a year in London, Gordon and Annie construct an idea of married life for themselves, until their long-delayed honeymoon finally takes them to Venice. But once there, the city's brilliance seems to distort rather than illuminate, and the story gathers an almost unbearable intensity before - in a single act of absurd but devastating violence - their bubble is pricked and the emptiness at the core of their gilded lives revealed. "--BOOK JACKET.