A handsome young Roman actor stands at the dawn of his career. A chance meeting on the Metro introduces him to a circle of Anglo expats who find in him the embodiment of their dreams and doubts about Italy and its people. As a pandemic closes theaters, the whole world must don the actor's mask. Truth, trust, friendship, love, and art—all must be reimagined, rehearsed, and performed afresh.

This book is "the celebration of a friendship an intimate and refined partnership across languages and cultures, against the backdrop of the Eternal City which, page by page, becomes the undisputed protagonist of the novel" -Michele di Mauro, novelist.