On Bryan Cavanagh's birthday, a sealed letter from Rome arrives, bearing the arms of the ancient house of the Farnese di Mongrifone. Affectionate, even imperious, it is a summons from the woman he loved-and lost-in the turbulent, opportunistic world of postwar Europe. Beset by his memories of an extraordinary voyage on a private yacht on the Mediterranean forty years earlier, Bryan returns to Rome, where he discovers a closely guarded secret. In The Lovers, Morris West spins a glowing thread of love lost and regained, woven through a rich tapestry of intrigue, betrayal, suspense and murder.