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|a "In this unsettling, timely, and explosive novel, one of the UK's most admired and celebrated writers gives us a portrait of an ordinary man in an extraordinary dilemma, and asks questions that could be transformed, if only we could see through the illusions and disinformation that have us in their grasp. It's February 2019. Philip Notman, a respected academic with a German wife and a troubled nineteen-year-old son, is on his way back from a conference in Norway when he has an unexpected and disturbing experience that completely alters his view of the world. In an instant, the reality that he has always taken for granted becomes unbearable. Believing that Ines, a Spanish woman he met at the conference, can shed light on what he is feeling, he travels to Cadiz to see her. But his journey doesn't end there. In a progress that involves both the exploration of an idea and a quest for a simpler and more meaningful existence, he winds up in a small village on the south coast of Crete. Gradually, and yet inexorably, a drastic course of action occurs to him. He returns to London, knowing exactly what he must do, even if it ruins his life and the lives of those closest to him. How much are we prepared to sacrifice for our beliefs? Can love take second place to an idea? Is it possible to find a more authentic way of living?"
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