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 against her strictly Catholic mother, a religion teacher and Dollfuß supporter, in her search for her purpose, raising her four children alone. On her way to dance class, the young woman meets the charming yet enigmatic Swiss Piero Burkhardt, who works for a Red Cross escape assistance organization. What begins as curiosity and infatuation turns into passion – and the inexperienced Gerda finds herself pregnant after her 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 scarred by World War II, a reality she and her mother never thought possible. In between, Bilgeri sings songs from the Great American Songbook.