In 1951 a fouteen-year-old boy was sent to spend the summer with his aunts in Flanders, a household consisting of elderly ladies who had previously been connected (in a way that was never fully explained to him) with his own family. Within a day he had been embraced by the house and within weeks he was irrevocably entwined with a family that had taken him to their hearts. As he explored this new world and made it his own, the days ran together in a seamless web that seemed to stand still.