Seated in a Paris café, a man glimpses another man, a shadowy figure hurrying for the train: Who is he? he wonders, How does he live? And instantly the shadow comes to life, precipitating a series of comic run-ins among a range of disreputable and heartwarming characters living on the sleazy outskirts of the city of lights. <i>Witch Grass</i> (previously titled <i>The Bark Tree</i>) is a philosophical farce, an epic comedy, a mesmerizing book about the daily grind that is an enchantment itself.