About the Book
This is a true story, told mainly through actual letters written long ago. Bill, a 20-year-old American math graduate student, goes to Zurich, Switzerland in 1936 to pursue his studies. On this first day in class he meets Heidi, a Swiss girl seeking a diploma in math. Soon thereafter a student-run ball, on a grand scale, brings them together. They discover how deeply they share a devotion to music, art and literature and find themselves bound together in love, which remains unshakable through two years of frequent painful separation, and of bitter opposition of Heidi's family. Their letters reveal their passionate attachment to each other as well as their penetrating thoughts on mathematics, music, art and other subjects. They are finally joined in marriage and sail away to America.
About the AuthorWilfred Kaplan is professor emeritus at U-M's College of LSA.
