Mr Gracq is one of the more stimulating and original imaginations in contemporary French literature' - The New York Times Book Review It is All Saints' Day, 1917. The Great War leads up to the Russian Revolution as our narrator, a former soldier, recalls the events surrounding his arrival at the home of Jacques Nueil, an aviator and avant-garde composer. A twist on a triangular relationship, this carefully paced, mysteriously atmospheric novel evokes the power of sensed yet unspoken impulses as it blurs the boundaries between the fantastical and the real.'