The Reluctant Contessa

Contessa Maria Therese is the much loved daughter of displaced royalty. As she grows, she becomes increasingly focused on the expectations of others. Turning away from her desire to serve God, and fighting against a passion once felt during a memorable evening with Dimitri, a musician who steals her heart, Maria Therese marries Colonel Nikolas Fredrico. Dreams of pomp and splendor are quickly replaced by a hard reality: she is trapped in a loveless marriage to a cruel and narcissistic man. When Fredrico becomes a diplomat, Maria Therese travels abroad with her husband, hoping to make a new life. Instead, she finds herself and her young daughter caught up in her husband’s treachery, and living in a diplomat's villa in Belgrade,Yugoslavia that feels more like a prison. There is escape, detention, and then...Dimitri. The Reluctant Contessa by Maria Canavarro is more than a journey into one woman’s life. It is a reminder that we have choices, and that even the darkest choice can lead us toward the light.