"SOMETHING is going to happen to me!" Joe Hammond was in Rome on furlough after fifteen months at the front. It was to be seven days of excitement and pleasure--a lifetime of love in one week. The first day he met Maria Consorti who gave him her body for a meal, and then abandoned him for an American capitano. Then he found Nina Bonte, business woman, who left her prosperous Bar Nazionale long enough to have a brief affair with him. And there was sad-eyed Gianna Aragno, too weak from hunger to give Joe her love, and lustful aging Carla Valsetti. Joe left Rome with a feeling of deep sadness for the Eternal City and for the young lives ruined and cast adrift by the war. A collection of poignant and vital stories by one of America's most important young writers.