This sad, deeply felt novel in many ways perfectly captures the various states of the hero. He spent most of his young life in prison for murder. A certain trial is constantly going on in the hero’s soul: could he really do what he did? Can he start over, forget his past and become someone else? Upon his release, he expects to start a new life, changes his name, and the people around him for the time being do not suspect anything unusual until they find out that he tried to hide his past from them.