"The Flesh" is a captivating, hypnotic novel about a man unraveling due to a series of events beyond his control. 15-year-old István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment building in Hungary. New to the city and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor—a married woman close to his mother's age—as his only companion. These encounters turn into a secret relationship that István himself struggles to understand, and his life soon spirals out of control.

As the years pass, he gradually moves upward through the currents of money and power in the 21st century, transitioning from the army to the company of London's super-rich, with his competing desires for love, intimacy, status, and wealth yielding him incredible riches until they threaten to completely overthrow him. Clear and insightful, "The Flesh" is the most remarkable novel by the master of realism, posing profound questions about what drives a life: what makes it worth living and what destroys it.

• Pages: 368
• Dimensions: 15.4x15.4 cm