Squaring the circle

Tom Stoppard's book tells the story of Solidarity's climb and collapse, presented as a personal essay that borrows the methods of the stage and the craft of filmmaking. Its approach is inventive, using dramatic structure to reinterpret the political and social history of Poland. The narrative covers the period in which Edward Gierek lost power, Solidarity rose, and Wojciech Jaruzelski came to the fore.