At 77, struggling with writer's block, Theodor Kallifatides makes the difficult decision to sell the Stockholm studio where he worked for decades. Unable to write, and unable to not write, he travels to his native Greece. In this memoir, he explores the interplay of meaningful living and meaningful work, and the timeless question of how to reconcile oneself to aging. But he also comments on worrying trends in contemporary Europe - religious intolerance and prejudice against immigrants, the housing crises and gentrification - and his sadness at the battered state of his beloved Greece.