Thus Bad Begins

byJavier Marías

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As a young man, Juan de Vere takes a job that will haunt him for the rest of his life. His employer is sophisticated film mogul Eduardo Muriel. Through him Juan meets Muriel's wife, Beatriz, a highly sensual woman utterly neglected by her husband. And then there's Dr Jorge Van Vechten, an old family friend with a shadowy past. But what role will Juan play in this unhappy home? What connects Beatriz and Van Vechten? And what happened in the chaotic years after the war?

As Juan learns more about his employers, his own innocence quickly falls away. He starts out as a mere observer but soon finds himself unable to stand on the side lines, compelled to interfere ever more dangerously in the dark interior of other people's lives.

Publisher's description. From one of Spain's most acclaimed literary voices comes a rich and complex portrait of mutual deception, toxic love and cruel, lingering guilt. A youth caught in the middle of someone else's bitter marriage; a beautiful woman scorned; a man torn between conscience and will. Step into the melancholic, unforgiving world of Javier Marías.

Penguin

About Javier Marías

Javier Marías was born in Madrid in 1951 and died in 2022. He published fifteen novels, three collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into forty-three languages and has won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious Dublin IMPAC award for A Heart So White. He held academic posts in Spain, the United States and in Britain, as Lecturer in Spanish Literature at Oxford University.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241972823
  • Length: 512 pages
  • Dimensions: 198mm x 30mm x 129mm
  • Weight: 351g
  • Price: £15.99
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