"The Middle Ages have just begun when Vigdis Adelaïs, a young woman from a prosperous French family, falls in love with David Todros, a student at the city's yeshiva, and the son of a rabbi. To be together, they must flee their city, Vigdis renouncing a life of privilege and comfort. Pursued by her father's knights and in constant danger of betrayal, the lovers embark on a dangerous journey to the south of France, only to find their brief happiness...

"In this revealing and poignant story, Stefan Hertmans uncovers haunting details about the previous owner of his house and the crime he committed as a member of the Nazi police. In 1979 Stefan Hertmans became obsessed with a rundown townhouse in Ghent. The previous owners were mentioned only in passing during the acquisition, and it wasn't until the new millennium, long after he had sold the house, that he came across a memoir by the owner's son Adriaan...

"A sweeping family saga chronicling the inner lives of the women of the Vanta family as they tend to Grandma Bee's declining health, exposing the complexities and tensions of young and old, past and present, homeland and homeland, white and off-white"--