"The feeling for the suspense of the present moment, which hangs like a drop of rain upon the window, containing a whole world in itself." -- V. S. Pritchett
Ivan Osokin is in utter despair. He's failed at school, he's broke, and the woman he adores has just abandoned him. If only he could live his life over again and avoid all his mistakes! A chance encounter with a magician provides Ivan with that precise opportunity, and he's sent back in time to correct his wrong turns. But even with a fresh start, he's helpless to fix the errors of his past.
This intriguing novel by P. D. Ouspensky, one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth-century occultism, inspired the movie Groundhog Day. Set in the final years of czarist Russia, the tale unfolds in Moscow and Paris and offers an imaginative exploration of one of the chief themes in Ouspensky's works: the concept of eternal recurrence, which proposes that our endless repetition of missteps only can be halted by the kind of change that comes from within.