My name is Milan because my mother adored books by Milan Kundera. But since her brother, named Misha, had been killed in a concentration camp, my mother always called me Misha and that is how I became Misha for everyone. My name can be written in many different ways, depending on the language. I prefer to write it as Misha. So begins Alain Elkann's tale of love and loss, but above all about loss.

Translated by K.E. Bättig von Wittelsbach. Fiction. Italian & Italian American Studies.