A poor English teacher, having killed one sister, marries another and sympathizes with a third. Under the gentle whisper of Massimina, whom he killed, Morris builds a new, harmonious life, full of morality and beauty. But wretched people stand in the way of harmony, and Morris has no choice but to remove the obstacle. Morris is by no means a superman to whom everything is allowed. He is a poor fellow, caught in the whirlwind of fate and circumstances. And to break out of it, you have to commit crime after crime. Morris fights remorse very simply: first he does something terrible, and then he bases his action on it. For a blessing, you can always turn to the ghost of Mimi, the gentle angel whom he once killed.

The narrative, which is told from Morris’s point of view, is so saturated with self-deception and self-justification that the endless internal monologue is sophisticatedly ironic and at the same time a simple-minded commentary.

Parks’ book is quite serious, but thanks to its subtle ironic style it is light and dynamic.