An old man sits in a room, with a single door and window, a bed, a desk and a chair. Each day lie awakes with no memory, unsure of whether or not lie is locked into the room. Attached to the few objects around him are one-word, hand-written labels and on the desk is a series of vaguely familiar black-and-white photographs and four piles of paper. Then a middle-aged woman called Anna enters and talks of pills and treatment, but also of love and promises.
Who is this Mr Blank, and what is his fate ? What does Anna represent from his past - and will lie have enough time to ever make sense of the clues that arise ? After the huge success of The Brooklyn Follies, Travels in the Scriptorium sees Auster return to more metaphysical territory. A dark puzzle, and a game that implicates both reader and writer alike, it is an ingenious exploration of language, responsibility and the passage of time.