This beautifully written book which the author calls 'a fiction', is set within the real world of Canterbury art in the year of the earthquake, with real Canterbury people. It centres around a Belarus refugee who fled his country to find freedom. Sam and Gregor meet weekly to discuss art's purpose, and critique Lukashenka from a distance, but there is a pervading enemy in the book which can best be described in the words of architect Peter Beaven, and by the end, Gregor departs, disillusioned.
