Something or somebody that begins with just a passing thought and ends up being the only thing we can think about. This can be understood as saintliness or insanity. An epic novel about love, marriage and finding your way. The Zahir begins with the disappearance of a writer's wife, Esther. At first accused of playing a role in the disappearance, the writer is soon released but remains haunted by the mystery. He thinks of Esther as his "Zahir" - a phrase he has taken from Borges which means his "obsessive goal". Time passes and he takes a new lover - Marie. He also writes a new book, this time about Esther, which becomes a bestseller. Then one day at a book-signing a man appears. He reveals that Esther is alive and well and living in Kazakhstan. So begins the narrator's quest to find her - and, along the way, himself. And what he finds is quite different from what he has expected. A novel about fame, need and, ultimately, acceptance, The Zahir will provoke us to ask questions of ourselves and our lives.