Synopses & Reviews
A bravura performance by a groundbreaking new writer—a novel set in contemporary Barcelona and made up of multiple storylines, including a fictional manuscript by Stephen King
Wonderful World is the story of a son trying to make his father proud—by becoming an international criminal.
Lucas Giraut inherits the family company from a father who never really cared enough to get to know him. This inheritance comes with a lot of unanswered questions and one archenemy: Lucas's mother, Fanny, an ambitious and ruthless entrepreneur who believes Lucas is as useless as his father, Lorenzo, an enigmatic man whose recent death—under mysterious circumstances—delights her.
Valentina Parini is a precocious and troubled seventh-grader, and the self-proclaimed Top European Expert on the Work of Stephen King. Lucas Giraut is her upstairs neighbor and her only friend. He indulges Valentina as she reveals her dark fantasies of retribution on her classmates and teachers. As Valentina struggles with growing up, Lucas endeavors to understand what he's been bequeathed by his father. Following clues found in a windowless secret apartment and in his dreams, he ends up deep in Barcelona's underworld, far from the comforts of his home, a former ducal palace in the Gothic Quarter.
In Wonderful World, Javier Calvo brings together a huge cast of unforgettable characters in a haunting, masterful tale filled with scandalous behavior and dangerous crimes. A dazzling novel in which reality and fantasy entwine, it hails the arrival of a powerful and original voice.
Review
“A frenetic and magnificent mashup of family drama, mob revenge story, and surreal mystery. . . . A fast-moving narrative overflowing with hilarious situations.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“Javier Calvo claims to have channeled the ghost of Charles Dickens to write thispostmodern thriller, and the young Spanish author tells his tale with enough briothe cartoonish cast includes Pink Floyd-obsessed gansters and plastic-surgery-maimedmatriarchsthat youll excuse the presumption.” Details
Review
“Surreal, sexy, wildly funny, self-indulgent, and wretchedly excessive . . . has all the earmarks of a cult favorite in the making.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
“Javier Calvos Wonderful World is a unique, visionary novel: verbally magical, funny, and full of old-fashioned sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. This is the work of a marvelous literary talent.” Clive Barker
Synopsis
Calvo brings together a cast of intriguing characters in a haunting and masterful tale full of scandalous behavior and dangerous crimes, in his English-language debut novel.
Synopsis
“Javier Calvos
Wonderful World is a unique, visionary novel: verbally magical, funny, and full of old-fashioned sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. This is the work of a marvelous literary talent.” — Clive Barker
Wonderful World is a bravura performance by a groundbreaking new writer—a novel set in Barcelonas Gothic Quarter made up of multiple storylines, including a fictional, unpublished manuscript by Stephen King. Javier Calvo is the heir apparent to such literary powerhouses as Roberto Bolaño, Michel Hoellebecq, Junot Díaz, Haruki Murakami, and Chuck Palahniuk—fans of these writers are sure to love Wonderful World.
About the Author
A screenwriter and a book collector, Javier Calvo is the author of four works of fiction. Wonderful World is his English-language debut. He divides his time between Barcelona and Brooklyn, New York.