Romania, the last months of the Ceaucescu regime. Adina is a young schoolteacher. Paul is a musician. Clara works in a wire factory. Pavel is Clara's lover. But one of the group is an informer.One day Adina returns home to discover that her fox fur rug has had its tail cut off. On another day, the hindleg. Then a foreleg. The mutilation is a sign that she is being tracked; one of her friends is her hunter.In precise and haunting prose, Herta Muller creates a cinematic portrayal of the fearful half-lives under totalitarianism.