Synopses & Reviews
Slippery figures in anomalous situations -- ghosts, spies, bodyguards, criminals -- haunt these stories by Javier Marías: the characters come bearing their strange and special secrets, and never leave our minds. In one story, a man obsessed with his much younger lover endlessly videotapes her every move, and then confides his surprising plans for her; in another a ghost can't stop resigning from his job. Masterfully, Marías manages in a small space to perplex and delight. "The short story fits Marías like a glove," as noted. His stories have been hailed as "formidably intelligent" (), "a bracing tonic" (), and "startling" ().
Review
"In the space of ten or twenty pages, Marías contrives to write a novel.." Nouvel Observateur
Review
The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature. --The Boston Sunday Globe
Review
Sexy, contemplative, elusive and addictive.
Review
Sexy, contemplative, elusive and addictive. --San Francisco Bay Guardian
Review
"These stories...transport you into another world, another time...a place where romance is as easy as breathing and spirits cry for what they've lost." Elizabeth Provenzano
Synopsis
A dozen unforgettable stories by "one of the most original writers at work today" (Wyatt Mason, ).
About the Author
Javier Marías is an award-winning Spanish novelist. He is also a translator and columnist, as well as the current king of Redonda. He was born in Madrid in 1951 and published his first novel at the age of nineteen. He has held academic posts in Spain, the US (he was a visiting professor at Wellesley College) and Britain, as a lecturer in Spanish Literature at Oxford University. He has been translated into 34 languages, and more than six million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. In 1997 he won the Nelly Sachs Award; the Comunidad de Madrid award in 1998; in 2000 the Grinzane Cavour Award, the Alberto Moravia Prize, and the Dublin IMPAC Award. He also won the Spanish National Translation Award in 1979 for his translation of Tristram Shandy in 1979. He was a professor at Oxford University and the Complutense of Madrid. He currently lives in Madrid.Margaret Jull Costa is an award-winning translator of Portuguese and Spanish literature. She lives in the United Kingdom.