WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2025 In the darkening embers of a Communist utopia
life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz spiders weave
water drips and animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the
charismatic Irimias - long-thought dead - returns the villagers fall under his spell. Irimias
sets about swindling the villagers out of a fortune that might allow them to escape the
emptiness and futility of their existence. He soon attains a messianic aura as he plays on the
fears of the townsfolk and a series of increasingly brutal events unfold. Translated by
George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet
