Tomás Nevinson

Tomás Nevinson

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

AFTER THE ACCLAIMED BERTA ISLA COMES JAVIER MARÍAS' LONG-AWAITED NEW NOVEL

'The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature' Boston Globe


Tomás Nevinson has left the secret service and returned to his old job working in the British Embassy in Madrid. Assumed dead by his wife Berta, Tomás attempts to resume his previous life and heal from his psychological wounds.

But when he is contacted by his old boss, Bertram Tupra, Nevinson reluctantly becomes involved in a plan to locate and eliminate a woman believed to have helped orchestrate the 1987 Hipercor bombing. Detonated by the ETA, a Basque separatist group, the bomb killed 21 people and injured 45.

Full of mesmerising intrigue, Tomás Nevinson offers a deep reflection into the moral dilemma of whether the killing of a presumed criminal can be justified. Marías' meticulous insight and dazzling intellectual vigour show why he is so often said to be Spain's greatest living writer.

PRAISE FOR BERTA ISLA:

'A twisty, thought-provoking tale that puts notions of truth and morality under pitiless scrutiny' The Guardian


'Elegant, discursive, persuasively vivid novel . . . powerful and indelible' The National


'Marías weaves a thrilling and desolate meditation on the psychic costs of the deep state's dark arts' 1843 Magazine


'Magical
. . . [Marías's] finest novel to date' Alex Clark

'Compelling' Tatler


©2023 Javier Marías (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • A meditation on thought and consciousness, identity and disguise, the gloriously rolling sentences offer the deep pleasures of a brilliant mind apprehending the world in real time
    Guardian, '2023 Summer Reads'

About the author

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.
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