Place of action of this novel is Bonn – a location of highest political topicality. However, Böll is not interested in day-to day politics but rather, in the network of relationships and stories behind the scenes of official self-representation. The wives of the politicians, normally assigned only ornamental functions on the social scene, move into the spotlight in this novel: They are the secret social corrective, the redeeming feature in a world of intrique and scandal that is almost exlusively populated by men. Böll does not draw portraits, he does not lay tracks for identification of well known politicians. His characters are ‘painted over’ as it were, but in such a way as to be recognizable as prototypes of the Bonn Scene. As such, they can speak up quite bluntly in Böll’s novel. In a network of dialogs and monologs, they reveal the intimacies of couples, the intrigues as well as doubts of political partners, without holding back. With this artful use of dialog, what is usually left unsaid in politics is made public, if only in fiction.
