This is a psychological novel, exploring the way in which the lives of a number of people interact, causing them to confront truths about themselves. Woven through these episodes is a story about wartime events and the way they have affected the lives of the protagonists. There is also a supernatural theme, with the shadowy figure of Athar standing in the wings and influencing events. A man dies, a murder is committed, revenge is taken on an unrepentant wartime general....Old secrets about the war come out and cause some to re-evaluate their own histories. But the core of the action is in the way the characters move through their lives and come to some sort of enlightenment.