First published in French in 1974 under the title Souvenirs Pieux, Dear Departed is the first volume of a trilogy by Marguerite Yourcenar, one of the most celebrated French writers of the century, devoted to her own origins and background. Yourcenar describes the events surrounding her birth in 1903, then takes us back through the centuries to meet her mother's forebears: soldiers, essayists, idealists, heroines, even ambassadors. Throughout, the history of the family serves as a window on the history of a rapidly changing Europe. Using memoirs, letters and momentos, Yourcenar richly evokes both the larger events on the European stage and the rhythms and textures of everyday existence. Though rarely visible, Yourcenar is everywhere present, her perceptions rendered in her unmistakable voice. The book is a tour-de-force of historical and literary imagination.

The second volume of the French writer's autobiographical trilogy deals with Marguerite Yourcenar's father, recounting his turbulent youth, army desertions, affairs and marriages, gambling, and vagabond spirit, and recognizing the boldness, sensuality, and independence he passed on to her.

Qué? La eternidad constituye la memoria de una Marguerite Yourcenar niña y adolescente sobre la que gravita intensamente la figura de su padre y sus amores legítimos o no, su callada generosidad, su amistad, sin palabras, su elegancia, su inteligencia teñida siempre de un profundo amor.