Manuel Vilas

The Best Book in the World, clearly inspired by autobiography, tells the life story of a writer who wakes up every morning, has breakfast, and goes to his private office to create what he hopes will be the best book in the world.

In this funny, irreverent, and talkative story, Vilas shatters the proverbial glass ceiling to reveal who and what a writer truly is—from a place rarely exposed: his vulnerability. The impostor syndrome, the constant (and comical) comparisons with others, disappointment, uncertainty, living alongside joy and failure—all the way to the very end.

A unique, witty, and deeply realistic portrait of how a writer struggles, day after day, to be appreciated, to feel loved, and to achieve immortality. But always through comedy.

Everything in literature is pure fiction. This book tells the truth no one dares to say.

“It moved me and tore me apart. I felt as if he were speaking directly to my soul. A wild comedy, a book about failure and success, money and hunger, poetry and power, depression and pleasure, death and life. It says things many of us feel and think, but which Vilas has written in a way that’s entirely his own.” Sara Mesa

“Manuel Vilas reveals the hidden truths that every writer carries deep in their soul. A moving, brilliant, and profoundly human book. A true celebration for the reader.” Luis Landero

“This book isn’t a book—it’s a fire. The pages burn as you read them; its author burns, running toward the end with his head wrapped in flames; and the reader burns too, searching for the emergency exit. Everything you ever wanted to know about the horror of writing the best book in the world—and never dared to ask.” Juan José Millás

“A wild, euphoric, sprawling, unhinged, hyper-vital, hyper-literary, delirious, comic, humble, and delightfully mad book. Manuel Vilas in his purest state.” Javier Cercas

“Vilas has done it again. With his passionate prose and that backward glance that fascinates the reader, he shows that literature, too, can fight social hypocrisy.” Joana Bonet