By the time I was five years old I had spent half my life hidden away in a barn loft. I had vague memories of the world outside and I listened to stories people around me told of that world, but it was hard for me to believe in its existence. Was there really anything beyond the wails of this barn? I knew that there were people out there, people other than my mother, my aunt, my cousin and another family who shared our hide-out, but it was hard for me to imagine them. At certain times, when a German patrol passed nearby and I was forced to remain still, I would try very hard to see beyond the walls of our shelter. Curiosity, doubt and fear coloured my images. Within their spectrum, I recreated the world from which I was banished. Half invented and half remembered, it grew in my mind and satisfied the longings that sometimes came over me.

Nerina, a young woman living in Venice after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, is looking for a way to move to America. Her charm and grace bring her to the attention of Helena, a woman who seeks out 'individuals with useful skills' for her contacts in the international art community. Nerina successfully adapts to the social and professional expectations of working with creative people. In fact, she is so successful that her greatest challenge lies not in achieving her dream, but in finding for a dream to pursue in the first place – a journey that takes her from Italy to New York, and finally Montreal.Ann Charney's Life Class is an unusual diaspora novel, casting its protagonist not as a leaf scattered by wind, but as a brave explorer following her ambitions.