This fascinating, autobiographical debut novel tells the story of the long-term relationship of a gay couple set in contemporary Greece, and more specifically in a run-down area of the city of Heraklion, Crete, also known as Lakkos (Greek for “the pit”). The couple moves into one of the remaining crumbling old dwellings in the area and one of them, an Australian artist, has the idea of reviving the area through an art project. As a result, artists from all over the world flock in, beautifying Lakkos with wall paintings. The narrator, the partner of the Australian artist, is a Greek male in his late thirties. The story of the beautification of Lakkos takes him back to his own attempt as a teenager to “beautify” himself, when his main purpose in life was to avoid repeating the dysfunctional patterns of his parents' life and forces him to face the fact that his success in doing so was just an illusion. The visiting artists function as a temporary distraction from the couple's issues, which eventually come to the surface and demand immediate attention. As the story unfolds, Greece is in deep financial and refugee crises, a country under surveillance and a place where the word 'hope' is almost extinct. As the story draws to a close, the reader is offered a choice between two different endings and can decide whether the couple will stay together or fall apart.