When Eugen Faber returns to his hometown after the end of World War I, his world lies in ruins: he has become an outsider, a stranger in his own family. Jakob Wassermann's rediscovered novel is a harrowing and moving testament to the uprooting of an entire generation. For six years, the young architect Eugen Faber has longed for his wife, his great love and soulmate, while enduring Russian captivity, and ultimately undertook a dangerous escape. However, life has moved on in the meantime. He can hardly recognize his wife, and his young son does not remember him. He is no longer needed in his profession, and ideologies offer him no support. Increasingly desperate, he tries to fit into a world that is no longer his. With extraordinary empathy, Jakob explores.