A World by Itself is Shirley Guiton's second book about life in the Venetian Lagoon, following No Magic Eden; but whereas that book was principally concerned with the island of Torcello, where the author had made her home, A World by Itself, takes a broader view, encompassing the northern lagoon islands of Torcello, Burano, Santa Christina and San Francesco del Deserto, and considers how the island communities there would react to the technological upheavals of the twentieth century. As she says, 'Though tradition in the lagoon is strong, the forces of change in this century are stronger.'

With its astute depictions of the islands and islanders and its moving concern for the future of their ways of life, A World by Itself, first published in 1977, is as ground-breaking as its predecessor. With this book and No Magic Eden, it may be said that Shirley Guiton has done for the Venetian Lagoon what Ronald Blythe did for Akenfield.