This story wasn't written by me, but by my grandfather, Alan Gardner. I'm excited to share his story with Wattpad as I read through and edit it for the first time. ------- An English newspaperman, sent to Rome to cover a meeting of the English Princess and the Pope and to find what happened to a journalist who mysteriously disappeared, uncovers a Communist plot. "Recipe for an exciting book; one foreign correspondent in Rome, one missing colleague, one beautiful girl, and a vicious communist plot. Shake violently together till a chain reaction sets in. Result: another success for Mr. Gardner. This must be finished at a sitting." - The Spectator "A new spy novel that is sensationally thrilling." - Anthony Boucher, New York Times

Gene Di Novi played piano for the greats of the 20th Century: Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. This is his biography spoken to the fine writer Jack Batten. "I played piano with Bird and Diz. I accompanied Lena, Peggy, Raquel, Barbra, one Dinah (Shore, but not Washington), two Franks (Sinatra and Zappa) and a Tony (Bennett). I recorded with a Pres (Lester Young) and a King (of Swing, Benny Goodman). I wrote songs with Johnny Mercer (Have a Heart) and composed an extended piece for an entire archipelago (The Scandinavian Suite). I learned lessons from a Duke (Ellington) and a Count (Basie). And I came oh so close to performing for a Vladimir (Horowitz)...."

"I never knew how pretty I was until I met you." A meditation on the inevitability of aging, (the eventual corruption of) beauty, and soul-destroying loneliness.