Summary

Chapter 1 opens in an unnamed collective estate—or village—in Hungary. The novel takes place in the 1980s, contemporary to when it was written, only a few years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The story opens on a male villager named Futaki. He works as a farmer and walks with a limp. He awakes to the sound of bells one morning, but he is unsure where the sound is coming from. He is also unsure if other people in the village can hear the bells. In bed with him is Mrs. Schmidt, a married villager with whom Futaki is having an affair. Futaki and Mrs. Schmidt talk about the nightmares they each had during the night. Like most of the residents of the estate, Mrs. Schmidt and Futaki have been under stress over the past years as the economic viability of the...