The Dancer Upstairs
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  • Published: 2 November 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529114850
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $22.99

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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For readers of William Boyd and John le Carré, an exhilarating literary thriller about the hunt for a missing terrorist in South America.

From the acclaimed author of The Sandpit, an exhilarating literary thriller about the hunt for a missing terrorist in South America.

Out of a job but in search of one last scoop from South America, journalist John Dyer strikes gold when he chances upon Agustín Rejas, a former police colonel whose dogged pursuit - and eventual capture - of murderous guerrilla leader Ezequiel made him a national hero.

Over many nights, Rejas recounts his story of the years-long manhunt. So too emerges the tale of his own poor upbringing, his turbulent marriage and the passion he once felt for Yolanda, his daughter's ballet teacher - an all-consuming obsession that would ultimately lead him straight to the elusive Ezequiel...

'Astoundingly good... Demands you put your life on hold until it is finished' Guardian

'A genuinely fine novel from a writer who possesses real heart and flair' Louis de Bernières, Sunday Times
  • Published: 2 November 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529114850
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $22.99
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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

A completely overwhelming novel, and I suspect that it will become a classic...one of those perfect novels

Colin Wilson

Nicholas Shakespeare, using only black marks on white papers, has set in 1990s South America a story quite as evilly enchanting as the one about the Third Man Graham Green set in Vienna... Shakespeare's unadorned prose is as clean and precise as the coroner's scalpel. The Dancer Upstairs is an extraordinary story; no grown-up reader should neglect it

George V. Higgins

Shakespeare is a good writer and a clever and ingenious storyteller...this is as good a book as we are likely to get about the atmosphere of the Sendero years

Times Literary Supplement

Truth is certainly stranger than fiction, but the fictionalised facts of The Dancer Upstairs make the story of the Shining Path illuminating reading

Sunday Telegraph

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

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

The Times

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

Independent on Sunday

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

Observer

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

Astoundingly good... This dramatic, moving story demands you put your life on hold until it is finished

Guardian

A crackling good yarn...Graham Greene meets Gabriel García Márquez

Evening Standard
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