In Paris, in the year 1899, Marcel Despres is arrested for the murder of his wife and transferred to Salpetriere asylum. And so the story might have stopped.

But the doctor there soon realises this is no ordinary patient: Marcel Despres, Mister Memory, is a man who cannot forget. And the policeman investigating his case feels sure something else is at stake: for why else would his superiors be so keen for the whole affair to be closed?

The crime seems to be linked to the highest and lowest establishments in France, and the policeman and the doctor between them must unravel the mystery… but the answers lie inside Marcel’s head.

And how can he tell what is significant when he remembers every detail of every moment of his entire life?

For fans of Scarlett Thomas, Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Patrick Suskind, this is a captivating literary mystery about memory, history and fate.