As a boy in the 1960s, Zweig had a rare opportunity: every summer, he would leave his home in America and make extended visits to his mother's birthplace of Naples, Italy. During each visit, he'd uncover new mysteries about the parents he thought he knew.

Robert Zweig is a professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York. He is the author of numerous publications in journals, encyclopedias, and books, and is the author of several textbooks. He has lectured at many universities throughout the United States and abroad, and lives in Westchester, New York, with his wife and two children.