An international bestseller with tremendous word-of-mouth appeal, is a bittersweet, heartwarming novel spanning generations and teaching the universal truths about life, love, and what lies within each of us.  Originally published in Italy, won the coveted Premio Donna Citta di Roma and sold over 800,000 copies in that country alone before hitting bestseller lists throughout the rest of Europe.  Now North American readers can enjoy the novel that has won over the world. It begins in late autumn 1992 as an elderly Italian woman, prompted by the knowledge of her encroaching death, sits down to write a letter to her granddaughter now grown and living in far-off America.  Through these moving reflections, we see one life laid bare—joys, sorrows, regrets, and all.  And through the eyes of a woman nearing the end of her days, we come to understand what life experience has taught her:  that no matter what the stakes, we must look within ourselves and gather the courage to follow our hearts.