The Dwarf is the personification of evil. He detests love, and only gets pleasure from hurting others. He is the evil within each of us.

The main character, simply known as the dwarf, serves in an Italian city-state court during the Renaissance. Through his diary, we get to follow his thoughts while serving the prince. The book centers around evil, war, love, art, science, and religion, with the most emphasis on love and evil. The dwarf can be seen as the evil within every man, but also the personification of the evil within the prince.

At this point I think I just have to accept that I'm not a huge fan of literary fiction. But in spite of this, I quite enjoyed this novel. So it probably means that it is really good if you usually enjoy this genre.