This is parody; a novel about emotional murder. Piotr meets Evanya and they enjoy two plays together.

Piotr carries a sad Jewish inheritance. In part there is an analogy between the Russian play they see, ‘Gamlet’, and Piotr’s subsequent behaviour towards his near victim, the naive Evanya.

She escapes and he returns to his own city.
 

 

Someone in front of me? An apparition in the name of sweet woman?
A girl, a woman surely, all fair hair awry.
flush of excited heat and sparkling anxious blue eyes.
Slim, elegant - and she comes nearer. An offer?
I don't believe it, a taxi to share!
What welcome agreement to guide me to our destination.
Haven't I just seen her in the bar? Yes, I think she recognises me too.
What kind of destiny is this?