Beautiful, sad meditation on the lives of others, specifically of those gone before us, who lived in cruel times. The book is less an account of meticulous research (although there is a good measure of that) than an imaginative reconstruction of the short life of Dora Bruder. The fragmented story plays out against the historical background of occupied Paris. Details from the author's own life form a kind of empathetic counterpoint. Beautiful writing! Modiani is really good at conveying the layers of history you can feel in a great city - from small personal details like the bedroom wallpaper glimpsed on partly demolished houses to the terrible records of internment camps. A powerful read.