An extraordinary novel from one of Italy's most acclaimed contemporary writers. It's a literary page turner, skilfully written with immense storytelling power that draws you into the story which itself is both sad and uplifting. It's the sort of book that will live in your memory long after you've turned the final page.
This edition has an introduction by Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, explaining why this is his favourite book.
Here's a taster from Mohsin:
'A masterpiece of compression. A political history of 1930s Portugal, a
love story between a man and his dead wife, a gloriously successful
formal experiment, and an irresistible thriller - and it can be read
with enormous pleasure in a single afternoon.' - Mohsin Hamid
Dr. Pereira is an aging, lonely, overweight journalist who has failed to notice the menacing cloud of fascism over Salazarist Lisbon. One day he meets Montiero Rossi, an aspiring young writer whose anti-fascist fervor is as strong as Pereira’s apolitical languor. Eventually, breaking out of the shell of his own inhibitions, Pereira reluctantly rises to heroism—and this arc is “one of the most intriguing and appealing character studies in recent European fiction” (Kirkus).
