"The character r.ed monde spontaneously appears in watercolor at a kitchen table, dancing, playing and primping among the produce of Bologna, Italy in 1985. But r.ed's happy, ideal existence is soon threatened when the artist makes a 3-D version of her creation, leading her to close r.ed in a studio drawer out of fear. An identity crisis ensues when r.ed notices a lack of resemblance with any others in the artist's circle of family and friends. Bored with the random collections of trash and ephemera in the artist's studio, r.ed sleuths in reference books on world history and culture and makes a discovery"--Front flap of cover.