Identity

A philosophical masterpiece by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 'An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.' Salman Rushdie 'Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.' Ian McEwan Chantal awaits her partner in a hotel on the Normandy coast, struggling to find him on a crowded beach. After mistaking him for a stranger, they reunite, and she reveals her fears of men no longer turning to look at her. Soon, she begins to receive mysterious love letters, which she hides in her underwear drawer - but as the border between fantasy and reality blurs, perhaps the secret correspondent is someone closer to her than she realises? In this disquieting love story, Kundera reveals our shifting perceptions of selfhood over time, especially within the intimacy of a relationship - and makes us question our own existence.

The French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in the Czech Republic and has lived in France since 1975. He died in Paris in 2023.