Mercury Pictures Presents Av Anthony Marra

<p><b>The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini''s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles-a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the award-winning, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>A Constellation of Vital Phenomena</i><br></b><br>Like many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father''s arrest.<br><br>Fifteen years later, on the eve of America''s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won''t speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators. Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can''t escape the studio''s narrow typecasting