An undisputed classic of modern Western literature and one of its undeniable leaders plunges the reader into a mirror labyrinth of reflections: the fears from picture books of the once-popular writer Ted Cole suddenly grow flesh—and soon the fairy-tale little mole-man turns into a real maniac-murderer. Almost forty years later, Ruth Cole, the writer’s daughter—also a writer—while gathering material for a novel, becomes a witness to his brutal crime. But above all, it is Irving’s novel about love. An atmosphere of intensified sensuality, of love without boundaries and limits, fills its pages with a kind of magnetic power, turning the reader into a participant in a magical spectacle.