Except

Arthur Plin is a failed, unknown writer. Just before he turns fifty, a wedding invitation arrives in the mail: his ex is getting married, only he's marrying someone else! Plin can't go to the wedding - it would be too awkward. But he can't refuse the invitation outright - everyone will gossip about him. He has to find a pretext... and he finds it! He decides to accept all sorts of invitations, the kind that writers usually receive, to second-rate conferences and indifferent events around the world.

From France to India, from Germany to Morocco, from Mexico to Japan, Plin will travel the world to escape shame. Only at every corner, petty humiliations and humiliations await him - creatures, not infrequently, of his imagination alone.

This is the price he must pay in order to hide and make a new start in his life. A witty comedy full of misunderstandings, heartbreaking surprises and unexpected reflections on our common human fate.

"Impressive, enchanting, wonderful"

The New York Times

"Geniusly funny"

Washington Post

"A generous book, musical in its writing, magnificent in its structure and scope"

Pulitzer Prize for Literature 2018 Jury