It was released in 1999 by Éditions Robert Laffont, and was translated into English the following year.

The novel has been adapted into an array of motion pictures, including the 2005 American film Just Like Heaven.

[1][2] If Only it Were True is set against the backdrop of San Francisco and tells the story of Lauren Kline, a young, pretty, medical resident, completely devoted to her work in the emergency room of San Francisco Memorial Hospital.

She "wakes" to awareness outside of her still comatose body and is frustrated to learn that she cannot communicate with anyone.

She chooses to spend most of her time in her old apartment, where she is discovered by Arthur, the new tenant.