About the book: 1976 / A private road led to the residence, widening at the top of the hill into a small area. Stepping out of the car, I was able to look back at the city lying in the valley, see the towers of the cathedral and the high roof of the courthouse, everything else was hidden in a cloud of city fumes. On the other side of the hill lay a canal with islands scattered along it. The only sound that reached my ears, apart from the quiet rumble of the highway I had recently abandoned, was the sound of a tennis ball. Next to the side wall of the house there was a court fenced with wire mesh. A powerfully built man in shorts and a linen cap was playing with an active blonde. There was something in their concentrated movement inside the enclosed space that reminded me of prisoners wandering one after another through a prison yard...