Invited to exhibit his ceramic pieces at the Nissim de Camondo Museum, Edmund de Waal enjoyed the unexpected privilege of entering one of Paris's most luxurious mansions, formerly the property of an influential Sephardic family. Built at the request of the philanthropist and art collector Moïse de Camondo in 1912, the building has since housed an extraordinary collection of 18th-century French art. However, like de Waal's ancestors, the Ephrussis, the Camondos soon became targets of antisemitism. The unfortunate fate of this illustrious family struck de Waal as a source of shock, and he began writing the letters collected in this book to pay tribute to the memory of a lost family and "counteract the silence of disdain." The result is a moving and highly personal reflection on the price of assimilation, melancholy, family ties, art, the vicissitudes of history, and the value of memory.