Paris, 1908. At the height of the Belle Époque, Gabriële Buffet --- a brilliant young musician fresh out of Europe’s most elite conservatory --- meets Francis Picabia, a charismatic and explosive Spanish painter. Their intense love affair plunges them into a Paris alive with artistic experimentation and social rebellion. Soon after, Gabriële meets the enigmatic Marcel Duchamp. Before long, the three have embarked on a passionate and unconventional relationship that will define their personal stories --- and in the process reshape modern art. As Europe moves from exuberance to upheaval, and World War I looms, Gabriële, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and their milieu challenge every convention: about marriage, sexuality, authorship and artistic freedom.

January 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques --- all killed at Auschwitz. Years after the postcard is delivered, the heroine of this novel is moved to discover who sent it and why. What emerges is a moving saga of a family devastated by the travails of the 20th century and partly restored through the power of storytelling.