In a town at the foot of the northern Highlands, life goes on as always, but people are in a state of shock: a bank has been robbed, a sure sign of Westernization in this backward Balkan land. Meanwhile, other strange events--such as the marriage of a girl and a snake--confirm that ancient legends still prevail. People are flocking from far and wide to search for a tunnel to the Secret State Archives, said to house records of crimes they may have committed. Some even claim the ghosts of former dictators Hoxha, Brezhnev, and Ulbricht--not to mention Oedipus--have been seen there. Against this backdrop, a simple and sensual love story between a painter and a girl stands out as light against dark.- Increasingly, Kadare's extraordinary body of work marks him as one of the most important novelists of our time.- Kadare is published in 26 countries around the world, and his reputation continues to grow with very new work.- This work bears comparison with his very best fiction, and has recived extraordinary and widespread review attention.- Hardcover ISBN: 1-55970-635-X