At some point

The Author says that this novel "is a reflection on the left in Portugal and in the world" (DN, 28/10/00) and "seeks to reach an audience that cannot be reached in other ways". The action takes place in the Autumn of 1989, against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the "Coalition For Lisbon", in which communists and socialists allied themselves on a list headed by Jorge Sampaio, to run in the local elections in the capital. Although Carlos Brito states that the book is "pure fiction", it expresses the discussions that currently occupy the internal debates of communists regarding the present and future of Marxism-Leninism, with one of the characters even adopting positions similar to those Carlos Brito defended in a controversial letter he sent to the Central Committee of his party.