This extraordinary, heartbreaking novel is truly a history of love: a tale brimming with laughter, passion, and soaring imaginative power. Nicole Krauss's novel features some of the most memorable characters to be seen in contemporary fiction. Leo Gursky who opens the book is an elderly curmudgeon eking out an existence in New York, full of hopeful memories from his childhood and dreams about love and what he has lost. Meanwhile Alma, a young teenager, is trying to find a solution to her mother's loneliness and takes several eccentric paths on her quest to bring happiness back to her family.