From the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author, an unexpected and enchanting novel - the culmination of his life's work - that is a hymn to friendship and an original and humorous commentary on our era and how we live now. Set in Paris today, the novel follows four friends who run into each other in the Luxembourg Gardens, attend parties, and conduct a long-running exchange on sex, desire, history, art, even the meaning of human existence. Kundera moves effortlessly from a ferocious parody of Stalinism to playful ridicule of our own times.