Novelist Lee, Playing with Three 'Lost Hearts'

NPR | By Liane Hansen

Published August 27, 2006 at 6:45 PM EDT

Andrea Lee's latest novel, Lost Hearts in Italy, builds on the classic love triangle.

Mira marries Nick in a picturesque wedding at their alma mater. They head to Italy to start a new life together. But Mira meets Zenin, an Italian billionaire. He edges into her life... and the life she has created with Nick... and Mira finds herself in the throes of an intense affair.

Eighteen years later, Mira, Zenin and Nick are still trying to put their lives back together.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.