The Escape

''The more I knew of Haffner'' writes Adam Thirlwell in The Escape ''the more real he became this was true. And simultaneously Haffner disappeared.'' In a forgotten spa town snug in the Alps at the end of the twentieth century Haffner is seeking a cure more women and a villa that belonged to his late wife. But really he is trying to escape: from his family his lovers his history his entire Haffnerian condition. For Haffner is 78. Haffner in other words is too old to be grown up.