Marina's clear and detailed recollections of the Hermitage collection and the war are interspersed with her current dementia-impaired life in Seattle, Washington as she prepares to attend a granddaughter's wedding.

The novel uses the vivid memories of the past to contrast with the struggles of an Alzheimer's victim in dealing with everyday life.

The Guardian wrote "Debra Dean paints a powerful portrait of a woman with Alzheimer's, a disease that makes the past an increasingly persistent intrusion on the present.

"[1] A review by the Historical Novel Society called it "a beautifully-written novel, a haunting tribute to the power of memory to help us survive in the worst of times.

[3] The New York Times observed that "The story is a little too schematic, and Dean's writing a little uneven", but also said that "it largely avoids the sentimentality that mars so much writing about the old and infirm.