It is a portrait of Nantes, the city where Gracq grew up, in the form of memories, anecdotes, reflections and dreamlike descriptions.

[1] The title comes from a quotation by Charles Baudelaire: "The shape of a city, as we all know, changes more quickly than the mortal heart".

An English translation by Ingeborg M. Kohn was published in 2005.

[2] In 2007, Thomas McGonigle described the book for Los Angeles Times as "a model for how to write about one’s home place[.]

It should be required reading for anyone setting out to describe their home place.