A tale of corruption and moral decay by the celebrated Swiss novelist, translated from the original German. Walter Faber, a Swiss engineer working in South America, is brought by circumstance to see his life as nearly a complete failure. A close friend kills himself. An old professor and mentor becomes estranged. And finally Faber discovers that his young mistress is in fact his own daughter. She, too, dies later in the story, by which time Faber himself is dying of cancer.