Bliss, Remembered

(The Overlook Press) Set at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and in America during World War II, this saga, told as a memoir, follows Sydney Stringfellow, a swimmer from the eastern shore of Maryland, who finds her way to the Olympics where she falls in love with Horst Gerhardt, a dashing German. Back in the United States, separated from Gerhardt, Stringfellow tries to get over him and meets and marries an American, who serves in the Marines. Eventually, Gerhardt — a German spy who wants to defect — appears in America, and Stringfellow is caught up in his efforts to expose Nazi subterfuge. In her 80s, she finally reveals that part of he life to her son. Deford is a sports writer and commentator, working as a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, commentator for National Public Radio, and a correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.