Description: Marias's riveting novel about an opera singer and an extramarital affair.
Review Quotes: "Marías is simply astonishing." --The Times Literary Supplement
"Marías is a startling talent...His prose is ambitious, ironic, philosophical, and ultimately compassionate." --The New York Times "By far Spain's best writer today." --Roberto Bolaño "The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature." --The Boston Globe "A digressive narrative that moves back and forth in time....There is nothing quite like it in fiction today." --The New York Times Book Review "Marias's literary gamesmanship evokes verbal puzzle-makers like Borges, and his ingenious chessboard plots bring to mind the 20th century's grand-master strategist, Vladimir Nabokov. Yet his style is uniquely his own as are the discoveries he makes while rummaging around in the basement of the human heart." --Los Angeles Times "A book that reflects the torture of love the way arias reflect heartbreak." --Washington Times "The unspoken romance at the heart of Marías's work is the recuperation of old-fashioned adventure within perfectly serious, cerebral contemporary fiction." --The Daily Beast "Marías has defined the ethos of our time." --The Guardian, UK "Beyond the interesting ideas his work draws on, Marías's novels are simply a pleasure to read." --The Millions