The Reprieve is the second novel in Sartre's trilogy The Roads to Freedom. It is set in the tense days of September 1938, when Europe waits to learn whether the Munich negotiations will bring war or peace. Sartre moves quickly between many characters in France and elsewhere, from ordinary soldiers to politicians, showing how a vast public crisis is felt in private lives. The technique is inventive and cinematic, and the book explores freedom, fear and responsibility under the pressure of history.