Penguin Modern Classics

Victor, a New York cop nearing retirement, moves among furniture in the disused attic of a house marked for demolition. Cabinets, desks, a damaged harp, an overstuffed armchair - the relics of a lost life of affluence he''s finally come to sell. But when his brother Walter, who he hasn''t spoken to in years, arrives, the talk stops being just about whether Victor''s been offered a fair price for the furniture, and turns to the price that one and not the other of them paid when their father lost both his fortune and the will to go on ...