A surreal novel that holds a pivotal place in the literary world, it depicts a series of mysterious incidents in a small Hungarian town. A circus featuring the world's largest stuffed whale arrives, sparking bizarre rumors. Rumors circulate that the circus workers have a hidden agenda, and the terrified residents cling to any semblance of order they can find. The novel features unforgettable characters: the evil Mrs. Eszter, who aims to take over the town; her weak husband; and Valuska, our ill-fated hero with his head floating in the clouds, the fragile, painful center of the entire novel, the only pure person with a noble soul. A tight, powerful, and tense novel, it is, according to the poet George Szirtes, "a slow-flowing lava of narrative, a mighty, black river without equal." Yet miraculously, it "lifts the reader in astronomical leaps and bounds," according to Hari Kunzru in The Guardian.