Clutching his vodka and his memories, he seeks refuge on an island in the Cyclades. There by chance he meets a young woman who reactivates love's vocabulary. His survival instinct faintly reappears through the distorting mirror of alcohol. Yet the craving is an irresistible, clever adversary that shows no mercy. He is drawn by his love to places that affect his emotional world ever more forcefully. Moving from Paris and Munich to London and a mountain village in central Greece, he meets a young woman and it becomes clear that the greatest magic is to be found in reality, not the bottle.

Translated by: David Connolly