Set in postwar Switzerland, Fleur Jaeggy's eerily beautiful novel begins simply and innocently enough: `At fourteen I was a boarder in a school in the Appenzell'. But there is nothing truly simple or innocent here, and as the narrator broods over her schemes to win the affections of the perfect new girl, the novel gathers an unsettling energy. Winner of Premio Speciale Rapallo 1989 and Premio Bagutta 1989.