The Others is based in a ‘small coastal city’ (modelled on Rostock) in the north of East Germany, and begins early in 1989, prior to the seismic geopolitical changes that took place over the course of that year. It focuses on a love triangle between three very different characters: at the heart of it is Lolita, a medical student from India; with Armando (a factory worker on a labour exchange from Mozambique) and Theo (an East German mechanic and aspiring writer) vying for her attention. At the start of the novel, Armando and Lolita are on an early date, accompanied by Armando’s daughter Clara (with ex-lover Petra, an East German journalist), when they come across the body of a drowned man, who apparently lost his life while attempting an escape to Denmark. Their involvement in his discovery attracts the attention of the Stasi, leading to increased tensions over their already precarious position as ‘others’ in the tightly controlled regime.

Creation Lake is told from the perspective of a spy for hire (and former federal agent) known for the purposes of her current assignment as "Sadie Smith". She is in the process of infiltrating an agrarian commune of eco-leftists in France, known as the Moulinards. In order to do so, she has entered into a serious ‘relationship’ with a filmmaker called Lucien, who is close to the Moulinards' day-to-day leader, Pascal.

The Lacuna focuses on the life of the fictional author Harrison Shepherd, beginning with his childhood in Mexico in the 1930s and taking us through to the 1950s., interacting with significant moments and characters of historical significance along the way. We learn early on that he has kept diaries for much of his life, albeit with some important gaps (one of the lacunae that the title alludes to) and while the narrative is largely told through his diaries, it is mediated by a curatorial presence, the initially mysterious “VB”, and also punctuated by press clippings both real and invented.