What causes picture-perfect suburban Oakwood residents, MacKenzie, Roxie, Sara, and Georgia to desert their therapist fly off to Florence? Answer: A romantic Italian movie that prompts Roxie to ask: βIf Italy is so healing and therapeoutic what are we doing in Ohio?β Even Sara, the most duty-bound of the group, finally joins the pact they dub βThe Crazy Ladies of Oakwood,β and they all find themselves in Florence a week later. As they feel themselves embraced by the entire province of Tuscany, each woman falls and becomes entangled in experiences she could never have foretold. Not only do they find the fascinating Italian men that Georgia promised, but new sides to themselves and each other. Against the glittering background of Florence, their dramas play out: MacKenzie returns to her student days as an art historian, discarding her identity as the controlling Oakwood charity patron and society hostess. Renewing her acquaintance with the David, she vows to let herself be sculpted rather than trying to sculpt others. MacKenzie finds not only a new talent, but a new man who appreciates it, just as her husband decides to re-enter her life. Roxie, who has always approached life as a circus, is drawn unwillingly into a passionate romance with a gorgeous Italian professor, Stefano. Her physical response to Stefano taps into lost memories, causing her to literally run from him. Roxie, normally a colorful Cubana, senses danger in visions and smells that resurface of a rotting summerhouse behind her Florida home. With his nurturing and passionate love, Stefano helps her to face the βbroken pieceβ inside her. Sara, a Xanax addict, unveils part of her that no one but her instructors knows. She is an extraordinarily talented concert violinist. Normally trapped in the demanding life of an ob-gyn (scripted for her by her Vietnamese immigrant parents), she is temporarily freed. She performs for others for the first time, and experiences unprecedented joy. She also falls in love unexpectedly with a man who is not only a famous Chinese actor, but has a mysterious side business. Her defense of him gives her the courage to loose the vice-like hold of her parents and step into her own script. Georgia, a grieving widow, processes her life without Ben and without her violin career that ended early because of arthritis. Looking for a new passion in life, she finds that satisfaction comes to her in βgiving backβ to those around her the lessons and knowledge she has learned through her successes and mistakes in La Dolce Vita. Just as her perspective is changing, she reunites with her first love, Arturo, and must make a decision about the direction of her future life. Though ages have passed since the rebirth called the Renaissance, Florence still inspires change by breathing out its creative mix of energy, beauty, and courage. Where Michelangelo βset freeβ the David by sculpting a block of marble, each βcrazy ladyβ finds her exterior βOakwoodβ self burnished away by new experiences, revealing a new self. This burnishing is not a gentle process, but exuberant Italians help them through it with their all-embracing agape, or unconditional love. Though they do not know it, each of them hungers for agapeβs healing power. They discover in it a balm that binds them together and puts them on the road to recovery, the road that is βThe Only Way to Paradise.β Enjoy this first of four novels of self-discovery and romance. From the Author A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR In this novel, four women find refuge in the little heaven that is called Residenza Betta in Florence. Though they are figments of my imagination, the Residenza is not. Elisabetta, her son Cosimo, and his lovely Adriana are all very real and very dear to me. They are my second family, and I miss them when we are apart. "Betta" insists on mothering me, though I am the age of her own mother. An act that typifies her is when she picked up an opera ticket for me on her motorscooter in the rain when I could have gotten it for myself. She feeds me, she scolds me, and she surveys all my purchases to make certain I haven't been cheated. Cosimo is now in another hotel, learning his trade, even though he could make much more money as a gorgeous Italian actor. I tell Adriana, his fiancΓ©e, to keep him away from Hollywood. The lovely Adriana is a 21st century incarnation of Renaissance artist Fra. Fillipo Lippi's atypical Madonna model. She is tall and slender, fair with beautiful brown eyes. My son took one look at her and said, "If things don't work out with Cosimo, I'm your man." Adriana and I tell each other our secrets and giggle together like sisters. Milano 25 is a real taxi and you can read about its amazing driver on the Internet. Lastly, I did fall on the concrete pavement, and was treated just as gently by a much younger version of Roberto. I believe agape is a genetic component of all Italians. I write this in this happy house that has given me so much pleasure in Florence. G.G. Vandagriff February, 2011