Description
Temporarily out of stock
Title: Berta Isla
Author: MARIAS JAVIER
Format: PAPERBACK
Publication date: 15/10/2018
Imprint: HAMISH HAMILTON
Price: $33.00
Publishing status: Active
The latest novel by celebrated Spanish
novelist Javier Marías will command
your attention and refuse to let it go. The
sinuous sentences snake around your mind
and lodge there; the story is captivating.
Berta Isla’s childhood sweetheart and then
husband Tomàs Nevison is recruited into
the secret service while he’s at Oxford and
Berta is left alone in Madrid during his long
absences. Through this stark scenario,
Marías explores so much: loyalty, marriage,
politics and – perhaps most of all – how
individuals can shape or be shaped by the
universe. Berta Isla is a spy novel without
a typical spy plot and wears its literary
references (especially to TS Eliot) lightly.
For a while, she wasn’t sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not.’
Berta and TomBs meet in Madrid and, though both young, they decide to spend their lives together. Eighteen and betrothed, TomBs leaves to study at Oxford. His talent for languages quickly catches the interest of a certain government agency, but TomBs resists their offers – until one day he makes a mistake that will affect the rest of his life, and that of his beloved Berta. After university he returns to marry her, knowing he won’t be able to stay for long . . .
Gripping and intricate, Berta Isla is about a relationship built on secrets and lies – and the equal forces of resentment and loyalty at its core.
ISBN: 9780241343722
Pages: 352