Egypt in the twenty-sixth century B.C. Young Pharaoh Cheops thinks he'll forego the construction of a pyramid in his honor, an edifice that strikes him as the symbol of a singularly macabre obsession with death. But the court sages hasten to change his mind when they consult a hidden cache of papyri and discover that the pyramid was originally designed not as a tomb but as a paradox, a way of appeasing the masses by literally and figuratively oppressing them.

The pyramid is a symbol of nothing, a useless and infinite project intended to waste the country's wealth and keep security and prosperity, ever the fonts of sedition, constantly at bay.

When Cheops decrees the construction of the greatest pyramid the world has ever seen, the mere announcement of the plan terrorizes the nation: rumors of conspiracy abound; a secret police is formed; the most drastic purges are carried out in the interest of the Pharaoh's great obsession. By the time the first stone is laid, Cheops's subjects are terrified enough to yield to his most murderous whims.

Each time one of the massive stones is hoisted into place, dozens of slaves are crushed to a pulp, and there are tens of thousands of stones.... Kadare's keen parable of paranoia and terror will invite comparisons to the works of Franz Kafka, Paul Auster, and Ellias Canetti.