Penguin Modern Classics

''A man can''t scrap his bloodline, can''t snip the thread of immortality.'' Such is the strength of Joe Saul''s desperate longing for a child, that he feels as if a dark curse is upon him after three unfruitful years of marriage. Yet unbeknown to him, he is sterile. His beautiful, young, devoted wife loves him so much that she secretly conceives the child of another man. But when Joe discovers her deception, his anguish is greater than ever before... A powerful, tragic and deeply moving tale.