Reinhold Bilgeri reads from "The Conscience of the Doves"

Reinhold Bilgeri reads from his bestselling novel "The Conscience of the Doves." A Viennese family in the late 1950s: The vivacious Gerda rebels in search of her purpose against her strict Catholic mother, a religious teacher and Dollfuß supporter, who raises her four children alone. On her way to dance class, the young woman meets the charming yet enigmatic Swiss Piero Burkhardt, who is employed in a refugee assistance organization of the Red Cross. From initial curiosity and infatuation, passion develops – and the inexperienced Gerda becomes pregnant during their first nights of love.

However, instead of the groom, the police show up at the hastily arranged wedding – with an arrest warrant for Piero. Gerda sets out to find her missing lover and follows his trail into a world still marked by the Second World War, a reality that she and her mother never thought possible.

In between, Bilgeri sings songs from the Great American Songbook.