nationbooksprojectofnation
large_book

Buy It Online
    Amazon >
    Barnes & Noble >
    IndieBound.org >
    Powells.com >

The End of Romance

A Memoir of Love, Sex, and the Mystery of the Violin

Norma Barzman
March 2006     ISBN: 1560258136

In 1973, during the rise of the Red Brigades and the resurgence of fascism in Italy, Norma Barzman, a blacklisted screenwriter living in southern France, travels to Cremona with her husband, Henry Myers, the writer of the legendary Marlene Dietrich/James Stewart movie Destry Rides Again. Henry, a natural bon vivant and the love of Norma's life, is nursing his diminished talent in deathly isolation in New York. To bring him back to life, Norma persuades Henry to write his long dreamt-of novel on Cremona, the provincial backwater in Lombardy, Italy that produced the Cremonese violin, the sublime instrument made by the Amatis, the Guarneris, and Stradivarius.

Their adventure opens a Pandora's box of long-suppressed emotions, and forces each to reassess their feelings towards the other. Importantly, Norma--who becomes entangled with a young violinmaker--stumbles upon the mysterious origins of the violin, which unveil the suppressed history of Cremona, whose sun-bleached walls hide threatening secrets, intrigues and the shameful history of anti-Semitism in Italy. In doing so, she raises the ire of local fascists, thus putting her life in jeopardy.

About the Authors

Norma Barzman is a screenwriter and novelist who lives in Beverly Hills. She is the author of the celebrated memoir The Red and the Blacklist. She has worked for the Los Angeles Examiner, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. She was the wife of blacklisted screenwriter Ben Barzman.
signup

for our FREE e-mail newsletter, a monthly dispatch of events, excerpts, commentary by Nation Books and Nation Institute writers.



Deborah Stone's Book Tour

July 7 - November 2 | Across the United States
Deborah Stone, a Nation Books author, recently published her fourth book, The Samaritan's Dilemma. Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect calls it "a brilliant and persuasive statement of the case for organized compassion—not out of sentimentality but for the viability of society and our own self regard as a decent people." Listen to her on the radio and get a copy of the book signed at a bookstore on Stone's book tour. Find the schedule here.

August 25 | 6 pm
Bruce Mau Leads Green Symposium
(Denver, Colorado)
Institute Fellow Bruce Mau will lead the Green Constitutional Congress Symposium, which will cover a wide array of green-related topics. The symposium will take place at Buell Theater in Denver; it is produced by the Rhode Island School of Design and University of Colorado-Denver. The symposium is part of the larger event, Dialog:City at the DNC. For more information, click here. MORE

September 13
2008 ELECTION: What's Really at Stake?
(Cooper Union Auditorium, 30 Cooper Square, NYC)
Come listen to Institute Fellows Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill (also a Nation Books author of Blackwater) speak at a benefit for The Indypendent newspaper at Cooper Union Auditorium in New York City. Additional panelists to be announced; meet the speakers at a special pre-event reception. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit indypendent.org or call (212)-221-0521. MORE