Invitation to a Journey

Ludvik is a man who has touched bottom. Eleven years ago he left his country appalled by the poisonous spiritual and moral bankruptcy of East European communism. Now he is back. Not because the situation has improved-the post-communist era has brought its own brand of cynicism and soullessness-but because he has been rejected by the woman he loved and, like a wounded animal seeking refuge, he has come home. But home is a bleak and comfortless place where the heart is broken and the lover has lost all capacity. Yet even when all seems hopeless, small miracles do occur, and salvation comes from the most unlikely quarters. In Invitation to a Journey, Sylvie Germain guides us with her illuminated prose through deserts of despair and the dark shades of night, and brings us unerringly to the threshold of a new and joyous day.