Food is in short supply and the cold is unbearable. In a tantalizing menage a trois between a professor, his assistant, and a student, only the books bear witness to their plight.

Amelie Nothomb is the award-winning author of 13 novels, including Hygiene de l'assassin; Stupeur et tremblements, winner of the Grand Prix of the Academie Francais; and Robert des noms propres, which has sold over 250,000 copies in France. Human Rites is her first play.