Anna and Valentin meet on a train stopped by a mysterious breakdown. In this suspended, timeless moment, each recalls recent episodes from their lives.

Anna carries a heavy secret she has refused to reveal to her husband. Valentin's faith in a calm, monotonous life is shattered by an unexpected encounter.

 

But is their meeting a true exchange, or a confrontation of two monologues both addressing the same theme: the loss of our once-glorious physical appearance?

 

Henry Stivale draws the reader into the lives of people whose existence is turned upside down when their bodies remind them that age inevitably takes its toll.