Publisher's Synopsis
Wacholder lives and works at a Custom House with his adopted son Aslan and a lodger named Leo. Aslan spends his days copying out the novels of Kleist, Schiller and Goethe; Leo never leaving his bed, mentally composes his philosophical masterwork, Placental Theory of Existence; Wacholder's only apparent responsibility is keeping watch over a towering mountain of paper. Wacholder's consuming passion is his only true friend and nemesis, Wurz. Wurz hasn't left his home in over 17 years, his only contact with the outside world is Wacholder's letters.
