It is a first hand testimony, in all its unique flavor and idiosyncratic detail, tracing the ark of a life that started in war torn Italy, continuing with an American emigration story and ending with reminiscences of its very beginnings in wartime San Donato. On April 6, 1944, when the Nazis rounded up the internees in San Donato, Maria Cardarelli Puzzanghero was a teen-ager. She saw, understood and remembers it all. While the Tenenbaums found refuge in the mountains, they left little Katja in care of the Cardarellis.