The third lie

The Third Lie seals Agota Kristof's reputation as one of the most provocative exponents of new-wave European fiction. With all the stark simplicity of a fractured fairy tale, it tells the story of twin brothers locked in an agonizing bond that becomes a gripping political allegory for the forces that have divided "brothers" in much of Europe since World War II. The Iron Curtain has lifted, and Claus - war orphan, exile, and seeker after his long-lost twin - lies dying in a prison in the town of his birth. Claus is visited by memories: of his family and of his brother, Lucas, of the war that bound them, and the peace that separated them, and the betrayals and losses forced upon them by a century that has forgotten its soul. But worst of all, Claus is haunted by the three lies that he told when he escaped across the border decades before. The last of these lies - the third lie - is so unforgivable that it both united the brothers in shame and drives them apart in anger. The Third Lie is the culmination of the postwar, postmodern saga that began with The Notebook, in which the brothers were children, lost in a country torn apart by conflict, who had to learn every trick of evil and cruelty merely to survive. In The Proof, Lucas was challenged to prove his own identity and the existence of his missing brother, a defector to "the other side".