Indian Summer is an 1886 novel by William Dean Howells. Theodore Colville is a respected newspaperman in Des Vaches, Indiana. However, after a bad political move, his fans criticize him and his pride cannot withstand that. A concurrence is set up, and Colville decides to just give up the newspaper business. He sells his company to the new one. He feels he needs to take a long vacation, so he travels to Florence. Colville hasn't been in Florence in almost 20 years. At that time he was a young architect, and Jenny Wheelwright broke his heart. In Florence he runs into a person he wasn't eager to ever see again: Mrs. Bowen, whom he once knew as Lina Ridgely. She was best friends with Jenny. She is a widow and has a young daughter, Effie Bowen. They have a surprisingly pleasant chat and she invites him to a gathering at her home, Palazzo Pinti, that evening. He accepts the invitation…