Ten years have passed since the fall of Communism. B., a writer of great repute – whose birth and survival in Auschwitz defied all probability – has taken his own life. His friend Kingbitter discovers among his papers a play entitled Liquidation, in which he reads an eerie foretelling of the personal and political crises that he and B.’s other friends now face. Having survived the Holocaust and the years of Communist rule, having experienced the surge of hope that rose up from the rubble of the Wall, they are left with little other than a sense of chaos and an utter loss of identity. Kingbitter's find precipitates a frantic search for the novel that B. may or may not have left behind. That B. was having an affair with Sarah, one of Kingbitter’s companions, while Kingbitter himself was having an affair with B.’s ex-wife Judit, serves only to complicate matters further. An intricately layered story of history and humanity – powerful, disturbing, lyrical, achingly suspenseful and brilliantly told.

凯尔泰斯·伊姆雷(1929— ) 匈牙利犹太作家，2002年诺贝尔文学奖获得者。14岁被纳粹投入集中营，1945年获救。1975年，以他在集中营的生活为背景的处女作《无命运的人生》出版，这也是他最著名的作品。它与长篇自传体小说《惨败》和《为一个未出生的孩子哭祷》通常被称作凯尔泰斯大屠杀小说的三部曲。另有《英国旗》、《苦役日记》等中篇小说。他的演讲和随笔被收理成《作为一种文化的大屠杀》、《行刑队再次上膛前的瞬间静默》以及《被放逐的语言》等集子出版。

凯尔泰斯的作品尽管内容各不相同，但实际上都从各个不同角度传达着同一个主题——大屠杀。作者通过描述自己在集中营的亲身经历，探索着这样一种可能性：在人类屈服于社会强权的时代个人如何继续生活和思考。