Written from exile after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this autofictional blend of memory and fable tracks a changing sense of self Written from exile after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this autofictional blend of memory and fable tracks a changing sense of self M , a 50-year-old novelist living in an idyllic place by a lake, is travelling to a literary festival to give a talk. A sequence of events, mostly beyond her control, leaves her stranded in an unfamiliar town. It’s dead