1944, Northern Italy. Antonio’s life is shattered when he is deported to Germany as a forced labourer. Thereafter, his joys consist of small things: being able to breathe, to feel the plaster of a wall with his fingers, and the hope that perhaps, one day, he will return to his world.

The book, partly in the form of letters and postcards, reconstructs that former world and is itself an act of commemoration…