"Never before had I seen loneliness from such close quarters." In the stories of Juan Gabriel Vásquez, fine cracks appear in interpersonal relationships, unleashing enormous destructive power: During a hunt, an old man commits suicide because he was in love with his best friend's wife. From that moment on, the memory of him divides the couple. The marriage of a young couple is in crisis, and while the man briefly seeks solace with a lonely widow, his wife makes a definitive decision. The heir to a famous stud farm spends a night with a veterinarian and learns at their farewell why she is so afraid of darkness and being alone. Juan Gabriel Vásquez's stories are set in rural France and Belgium. However, his themes are of a more universal nature: love and aversion, loneliness, loss, and guilt.