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Berta Isla
  • Published: 3 December 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241983553
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $24.99

Berta Isla

Formats & editions
Paperback
3 Dec 2019
EBook
4 Oct 2018
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A marriage built on lies, a man with many faces, an unpaid debt to the secret service - rich drama from the author of The Infatuations

'For a while, she wasn't sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not.'

Berta and Tomás meet in Madrid and, though both young, they decide to spend their lives together. Eighteen and betrothed, Tomás leaves to study at Oxford. His talent for languages quickly catches the interest of a certain government agency, but Tomás 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 counter forces of resentment and loyalty at its core.
  • Published: 3 December 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241983553
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $24.99
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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.
JMí

Also by Javier Marías

Tomás Nevinson
Madame du Deffand and the Idiots
Your Face Tomorrow, Volume 3
Between Eternities
Your Face Tomorrow, Volume 1
Your Face Tomorrow, Volume 2
Venice, An Interior
See all

Praise for Berta Isla

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

1843 Magazine

Magical...finest novel to date

Alex Clark

Compelling

Tatler

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