A novel with a bang and full of quiet irony: funny, tragic, furious! Novak discovers the world of deep emotions late in life, and precisely in the hospital. Because his roommate robs him of sleep night after night, the Indonesian nurse Manuela lends him her Walkman along with some tapes, infecting him with her love for opera. Once discharged from the hospital, he struggles to return to his usual, ordinary life. Manuela has opened his ears, but also to the demands of a noisy daily life, including lawnmowers, pneumatic drills, and his wife Herta. While he continues to indulge in his vice and listen to operas, she suspects that his passion is for another woman. She isn't entirely wrong. But then Manuela suddenly disappears. Was she just a mirage on the stage of Novak's late dreams? Or does Herta have something to do with her disappearance?.