From family secrets to the mysteries of the universe, Karl Ove Knausgård returns with a vast and daring novel whose meticulous realism ends up leading to the vertigo of the supernatural, and whose stories woven by a surprising chance point ominously, insinuatingly, to a hidden meaning that eludes us. 1986: Syvert returns from military service. One day his dead father appears to him in a dream, awakening a curiosity that will intensify some letters that point to the USSR. Many years later, Alevtina goes to the birthday of her stepfather, who raised her. Her biological father is an enigma that she has not wanted to solve. When she does, the revelations will precipitate.