Description

A Heart so White is the breathtaking international bestseller and IMPAC Award-winning masterpiece by Javier Marias, whose highly-anticipated new novel The Infatuations is published in 2013. This Penguin Modern Classics edition features a new Introduction by Jonathan Coe.

A Heart so White begins as, In the middle of a family lunch Teresa, just married, goes to the bathroom, unbuttons her blouse and shoots herself in the heart. What made her kill herself immediately after her honeymoon? Years later, this mystery fascinates the young newlywed Juan, whose father was married to Teresa before he married Juan’s mother. As Juan edges closer to the truth, he begins to question his own relationships, and whether he really wants to know what happened. Haunting and unsettling, A Heart So White is a breathtaking portrayal of two generations, two marriages, the relentless power of the past and the terrible price of knowledge.

Publisher Review

As unique as it is brilliant... an entertaining and intelligent novel * Washington Post * The work of a supreme stylist ... It is brilliantly done * James Woodall, The Times * Marias' challenging and seductive technique reaches its pinnacle in A Heart So White * The New York Times * I was enthralled * Marina Warner, Guardian * The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature * Boston Globe *