First published 1972
Hugh Person arrives in Switzerland as a young publisher with a mission to interview the writer known as R. The sullen, awkward American finds himself captivated by Armande, a woman he encounters during his visit. Hugh endures repeated rejections and humiliations as he competes with a grinning Scandinavian rival for her affections. Eventually he wins Armande and brings her back to New York as his wife. Eight years pass. Hugh returns to Switzerland alone, carrying the weight of a murder, a period of mental breakdown, and time spent in prison. He wanders the familiar Alpine landscapes, trying to piece together fragments of his past through dreams and half-remembered encounters. The objects around him seem to hold secrets about what happened to his marriage and his sanity. Hugh's solitary journey becomes a desperate attempt to understand how his life unraveled and whether any trace of his former happiness can be recovered.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: second-chance, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Switzerland, New York
Period: 20th-century
104 pages · Hardcover · New York: McGraw-Hill
Content warnings: mental-illness, murder