The most delicate and talented author of contemporary Spanish literature - Boston Globe

No one else, anywhere, writes like her - Daily Telegraph

An exciting new literary offering from the acclaimed author of The Infatuations and A Heart So White.

"For a time, she wasn't sure if her husband was really her husband. Sometimes she thought of him that way, and other times not."

Berta Isla and Tomás Nevinson meet in Madrid. Young and in love, they quickly decide to spend their lives together - never suspecting they would become total strangers, both living under the shadow of disappearances. Tomás, half Spanish and half English, has an exceptional gift for languages and accents. Leaving Berta to study at Oxford, he attracts the attention of a particular government agency and its mysterious agent, Bertram Tupra. Tomás is determined to avoid the agent's attention, but his fate is sealed by an escalating series of events that will affect his life - and the life of his beloved Berta.

After completing his stay at Oxford, he returns to Madrid to marry her, already knowing that the life they planned has been lost forever.

Completely immersive, Berta Isla examines a relationship doomed to secrecy and concealment, to pretense and conjecture, to resentment muddled with loyalty. With methodical insight and understanding of the human soul, Marías explores the desire to change our destiny and the desperate exile we bring upon ourselves.

Pages: 544, Dimension: 13x13cm