On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, our unnamed protagonist -- an undistinguished journalist and lifelong bachelor -- decides to give himself -- the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.

The virgin, whom an old madam procures for him, is splendidly young, with the silent power of a sleeping beauty. The night of love blossoms into a transforming year. It is a year in which he relives, in a rush of memories, his lifetime of (paid-for) sexual adventures and experiences a revelation that brings him to the edge of dying, not of old age, but, at long last, of uncorrupted love.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores is a brilliant gem by the master storyteller.