A startling novel of ferocious psychological acumen, which, to my mind, deserves a large, international readership... very much a book for our times Siri Hustvedt, from the introduction

In 1940s Stockholm, a young man named Bengt falls into deep, private turmoil with the unexpected death of his mother. As he struggles to cope with her loss, his despair slowly transforms to rage when he discovers that his father had a mistress. Bengt swears revenge on behalf of his mothers memory, but he soon finds himself drawn into a fevered and forbidden affair with the very woman he set out to destroy . ....