The Dancer Upstairs
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  • Published: 2 January 2006
  • ISBN: 9780099466567
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $26.99

The Dancer Upstairs

Formats & editions
Paperback
2 Nov 2021
EBook
1 Dec 2010
Audiobook
23 Dec 2010
Paperback
2 Jan 2006
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'A crackling good yarn - Graham Greene meets Gabriel García Marquez' Evening Standard

This novel explores one of the most astonishing stories in the whole history of twentieth century terrorism. Colonel Rejas was the policeman charged with the task of capturing the Peruvian guerrilla leader Ezequiel, but having been dismissed he finds the burden of silence and secrecy too heavy. On meeting Dyer, a foreign correspondent, he is moved to relate the tortuous progress of the manhunt for the first time. The Dancer Upstairs is a story reminiscent of Graham Greene and John le Carré - tense, intricate and heartbreaking.
  • Published: 2 January 2006
  • ISBN: 9780099466567
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $26.99
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About the author

Nicholas Shakespeare

Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1957. The son of a diplomat, much of his youth was spent in the Far East and South America. His novels have been translated into twenty languages. They include The Vision Of Elena Silves, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, Snowleg and The Dancer Upstairs, which was chosen by the American Libraries Association in 1997 as the year's best novel, and in 2001 was made into a film of the same name by John Malkovich. Recent books include Secrets of the Sea and Priscilla. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is married with two sons and divides his time between Oxford and Tasmania.

portrait photo of Nicholas Shakespeare

Also by Nicholas Shakespeare

Ian Fleming
The Sandpit
Six Minutes in May
Stories from Other Places
Oddfellows
Priscilla
Under The Sun
See all

Praise for The Dancer Upstairs

Shakespeare is interested in grand themes: love, vocation, politics and the corrupting power of moral and ideological absolutes... The Dancer Upstairs will be enjoyed by any kind of reader... It is enviably good, a genuinely fine novel from a writer who possesses real heart and flair

Louis de Bernières, Sunday Times

Almost steams with the author's understanding of South America and yet is somehow poetic and tender

Observer

Will count among the best work being produced by the present generation of British writers

Independent on Sunday

As cracking a story as any yarn, as informed as any journalism, and delivered with firmness and urgency

The Times

In addition to being a satisfyingly rich tale or romance this is a highly intelligent examination of Peruvian - and South American - reality... Funny and devastating... I was riveted by this superb novel

New Statesman
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