Ian McEwan is one of the “ruling triumvirate” of modern British prose (along with Julian Barnes and Martin Amis), winner of the Booker Prize for his novel Amsterdam. In the ancient city - either Venice or not - where Colin and Mary came on vacation, they are bored. Their relationship had long since reached a dead end; they were tired of each other, just as they were tired of wandering among the endless winding streets. One night they meet a mysterious stranger named Robert. Confident, affable and perhaps a little too pushy, he leads Mary and Colin across the city - and out of their old lives forever...