The story is simple. Two men are on a hill. One is digging a hole. The other is watching him. As the day stretches out, the pair talk, telling the stories of their lives and why they've ended up here.

It's an intriguing concept. Donovan never reveals which country it's set in, or which war forms the background. His bold and almost mythical setup gives him a framework within which he can discuss philosophy, love, history, war and evil.

The narrative is dense with ideas, poetically written and engaging. The theme comes from the work of the 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who said that, to gain perspective on any problem, we should travel 50 years into the future and look back at ourselves through the wrong end of a telescope.