T he places of normality we usually inhabit—with their working hours, their obligations around the children’s school, their parking tickets—have the occasional niche where we can take a break from everyday reality. A writer who was commissioned to write a book goes into one such niche from another life, where ‘no’ can mean ‘yes’ and ‘yes’ can mean ‘no’, and is caught up in the vortex of a masquerade ball.
There is much excitement: all adults would like to play around with mystery, to feel like Alice in Wonderland for a while. There is also danger: disguise is always a game of boundaries, and those who use it may get confused, and find themselves hovering between the main play and the intermission.
So what happens when it is time for the masks to come off? What if the uncovered faces are other than those originally hidden amidst the frenzy of the ball? What can this mean? What happens when a real bird sings at an amusement park with wooden animals and recorded animal cries?