Ismail Kadare, Albania's foremost literary figure, went into self-imposed exile to France in October 1990. The "Albanian Spring" had proved no more substantial than the "Prague Spring" many years earlier. Exhaulted and revered under the regime of Enver Hoxha, Kadare, nontheless, was pleased to witness the changes taking place in Eastern Europe, and felt that at last true openness and democracy would come to Albania. His attempts to promote it and his ultimate recognition that it would not happen is the basis of this book. Several times short-listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ismail Kadare has had several of his books translated into English, including "Chronicle in Stone", "Doruntine", "Broken April" and "The Three-Arched Bridge".