IT’S very difficult to describe the idea that this book is based on. Imagine a city. It’s called “Beszel”. It’s rundown, a little like one of the old European capitals. Imagine a second city. Its name is Ul Qoma. It’s the opposite of Beszel, rich and modern. Nothing too strange about that, you might think. But in The City and the City these two cities exist in the same place and at the same time.