AustLit

'Felix Schmidt is backpacking on the Camino de Santiago when he meets the love of his life, the beautiful French Pascaline. He brings her back to Australia where he joins a new firm of management consultants. Deeply engrossed in the company's growth, he neglects Pascaline. She believes his addiction has reduced him as a person, wearies of his obsessive workaholism and returns to France. Felix pines for his lost love, but as the company expands, he advances into management and is totally immersed. Disillusioned that ambition has seduced him to climb a ladder that leads to nowhere, that forces him to inflict pain and make decisions he abhors, he loathes the character he has become. Eventually, he quits his work. Once free of responsibility, he aims to win back Pascaline, but first he must work on himself to restore the former person before succumbing to distortion. With trepidation he returns to France, anxious about the person he will find in Pascaline.' (Publication summary)