Marias's second novel was written in the early '70s when he was 21, and it has all of the stylistic grace and wry invention that has put Maras on the Nobel shortlist. An unnamed narrator ruminates on the intentions of a man (variously called Holden Branshaw and Hordern Bragshawe) who decides not to publish a novel written by an unnamed author who died penniless pursuing the life of that novel's subject: Victor Arledge, an author who died a recluse at age 38.