Anne Cuneo is one of the most significant and successful contemporary Swiss authors. In "Zaïda," she tells the life story of a woman who, in the mid-19th century, resolutely forges her own path against all conventions. Zaïda wants to become a doctor. She studies medicine at the University of Zurich. During World War I, and later in her encounters with the rising fascism in Milan and in World War II, fate strikes hard and takes away her family. Yet, Zaïda does not give up. She persistently follows her path and works as a gynecologist and psychoanalyst well into old age. "Zaïda" is the story of a woman, a grand hymn to life, and a panorama of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.