Javier Cercas

A hilarious learning novel in which no one learns anything. Almost twenty years after the publication of El vientre de la ballena, Javier Cercas, having consolidated his position as a fundamental writer on the European scene, accepted a fascinating challenge: to revise a book by the novelist he was and face his own origins. The result is a novel that is simultaneously recognisable and new, where the wisdom and effectiveness of the mature author enhance the freshness and humour of the young writer. In this way, the tragicomic experience of 30-year-old Tomás, immersed in a life transformation as profound as that of Jonas in the belly of the whale, gives rise to an extraordinary, delicious and melancholy tale full of unforgettable characters. The reader progresses as if through an ironic learning novel in which the only thing they learn is that there’s nothing to learn. Or that they can only learn if they accept the inextricable complexity of human relationships, the perplexities of the heart, and the illusions of happiness.