Paris, 1977. Eleven year old Stella knows poker better than grammar when she starts the year at a prestigious new school. There, she discovers the possibilities of a whole new world outside her parents' bar.
Nelie escaped a miserable existence by becoming a frontline nurse in 1914. One day, she takes the identity of Rose, a young woman from a good family, who dies in front of her. She presents herself in her place at Madame de Lengwil's house, to become the reader of this wealthy woman.
In high summer, Sasha suddenly dies. Her death brings two virtual strangers, her boyfriend Lawrence and sister Zoé, closer together, sharing their grief and the burden of their loss in Berlin, Paris and New York.
