A highly artistic, thoroughly European artist novel set at the (mountainous) height of time. The narrator - her name is Frau Fesch, and she never says "I" - comes as a tourist, just for a weekend and a meeting, and she checks into the "Malibu" near the seaside promenade of Ostend. A small circle quickly forms, and they are eager to make the most of their time: de Rouckl, a perpetually aggrieved artist type; Willaert, an Antwerp perfumer and inscrutable guide through the Belgian city; and Roy, the lovesick young man who is there with his grandmother. At the center: the Italian Sonia, accompanied by her lover, known as the "snow antelope." Soon, we find ourselves deep in intrigue and love... This grand novel is about longing in everyone and everything.