Readers first meet Simone Lerrante, a Belgian war orphan, as a child refugee in Sussex, England, her memory damaged by trauma. The novel offers a kaleidoscopic vision of Simone's fractured life and piecemeal understanding of self across multiple points of view. Following her from Cambridge to New York City and across the United States--through a disastrous marriage, thwarted desire, and the purgatory of academic backwaters--the novel charts Simone's unexpected reconnection with her past, which provides both autonomy and inspiration for her future.