The story is set in Geneva, more precisely at the BIT/ILO, against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Illusions and dreams soon to be shattered nourish the novel’s characters, whose feelings and thoughts are conveyed through dialogue and their inner voices.

Christiane Oberson, an unmarried pianist, earns her living and appears to be a liberated woman, the only one living her dream, and yet...

Alain Saintagne, overwhelmed with boredom in his uninspiring office job, yearns to resign and buy a farmhouse in the South of France to fully experience going back to nature, but his hopes remain unfulfilled.

His wife, Madeleine, is only concerned with financial security and does not dare overstep her role as a mother and married woman.

Fernand Lorenzo falls in love with Christiane Oberson, thereby betraying his fiancée.

To varying extents, they are all victims of their illusions.

Their dreams are merely ‘Clouds in their hands’.