When Bruno Lind, a neuroscientist and memory expert, returns to Vienna, the city of his birth, more awaits him than he had expected. Propelled by dreams, a chance name overheard in a hotel lobby, and the urgings of his daughter, Lind becomes the detective of his own unexplored life, retracing the experiences of World War II, refugee camps, and migration that he has long been unable to communicate. Journeying to Poland and to points farther east, to lost families and forgotten loves, this vivid novel of time, place, and memory reveals a world where some can't remember and others can't forget.