Three people, hitherto unknown to one another, are exceptionally sensitised, partly as the result of neurological changes following a missile strike, to global cruelty and suffering. Their attempts to alert society to much that is unrecognised are met with incomprehension and hostility. They are eventually exiled as threats to society whilst they defend their "compassionate pessimism" against political, commercial, educational and religious opinion. They conclude that the "developed world" is still stone-aged beneath its civilised veneer. This disturbing novel touches upon some of the...