This novel is set in Slavenia, a small imaginary country in Eastern Europe. Although its inhabitants experienced both the Holocaust and Stalinism, their spirit and courage remained unbroken. Slavenia is now a free and independent country, but a new internal crisis seems to threaten the fledgling democracy. The hero, Adam Jokamies, a sensitive young man from Scandinavia, is unaware of the great hardship the Slavenians have suffered in the recent past. He is nonetheless so entranced by Slavenia and its distinctive character, that he has come to the country to learn its language. Unusually for Irish literature, the culture of Eastern Europe and the history of the region are everywhere in this book. The novella is also, however, a love story and indeed one of the most erotic tales ever written in modern Irish.