Emmanuel Retsinas, known as Louis. Stuck on «almost»: almost handsome, almost unethical, almost a revolutionary, almost okay.

Konstantinos Manolopolos, the low-key intellectual. Stuck on «if»: if things had gone differently, something might have changed.

And Martha, the silent beauty. Stuck on «not»: The more she sinks into her compromises, the more she distances herself from love, the more she discovers it.

A tale of three people who live, react, transgress and survive amid the chattering middle classes, «successful», careerists, weary ideologues and sensitive layabouts. A fresco of an era in Greece swamped in brothels, poor neighbourhoods, remnants of lives and borrowed dreams. The confession of a generation that at some point realises «we got it all wrong beds, loved the wrong people, made the wrong choises».

Provocative, sensual, caustic and exuberant, this exceptional novel by Kostas Mourselas became a bestseller and a hugely successful television series.