One wet afternoon while driving a vanload of books to his shop, Etienne Vollard knocks down a little girl, Eva. Haunted by guilt, Vollard visits Eva in hospital and reads stories to her while she lies in a coma. He also meets Eva's mother, Therese, a struggling single parent whose dream is to be faraway and alone. When Eva awakes, the three of them are immediately aware that their lives are forever altered. Pierre Peju's profound and moving novel is about life, childhood, loneliness and learning to accept and understand our differences.