Translated by George Szirtes. From the winner of the Man Booker International PrizeIn the darkening embers of a Communist utopia, life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz, spiders weave, water drips and animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the charismatic Irimias – long-thought dead – returns, the villagers fall under his spell.

Irimias sets about swindling the villagers out of a fortune that might allow them to escape the emptiness and futility of their existence. He soon attains a messianic aura as he plays on the fears of the townsfolk and a series of increasingly brutal events unfold.

Format: Paperback
Published: in UK in 2020
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Pages: 304
Language: English
ISBN 13: 9781788166355
ISBN 10: 1788166353