This is the English-language version of Saramago's novel about Tertuliano Máximo Afonso, a lonely history teacher who sees an actor in a film who looks exactly like him. Curious and troubled, he sets out to find the man. Their meeting unsettles both lives and raises questions about identity, individuality and the fear of being duplicated. Part thriller, part philosophical comedy, it is told in Saramago's long, flowing sentences.