Jean-Baptiste Clamence - refined, handsome, forty, a former successful lawyer - is in turmoil. Over several drunken nights he regales a chance acquaintance with his story. He talks of his sexual conquests, his debauchery, his love of drinking, dancing, Parisian nights and the Aegean sea, and, ultimately, his self-loathing.

The Fall is a brilliant portrayal of a man who has lost his innocence and glimpsed the emptiness of life, yet is happy to die.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.