Description

Watching a rented video, Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is shocked to notice that one of the actors is identical to him in every physical detail.

What begins as curiosity quickly hardens into obsession. Tertuliano tracks down his double, only to find a man whose existence destabilises his own identity entirely.

Saramago’s novel explores the nature of individuality and examines the fear and insecurity that arise when our singularity comes under threat. For in this tense psychological literary thriller, the discovery of a double does not divide one life into two, it reveals that it was never singular to begin with.

Publisher Review

Quite unlike anything else * London Review of Books * A Borgesian fable with a marvellous flavour all its own -- Phillip Hensher, Books of the Year * Spectator * A comic and profound exploration of the self... A uniquely seductive writer * Daily Telegraph * The Double is Saramago at his most practised and polished. It is philosophy and thriller rolled into one * Independent * Indebted to Borges and with a nod to Auster, he manages to surpass both with the audacity and sheer erudition of his prose -- Catherine Taylor * The Guardian * In the pacy denouement the consequences of the hero's actions are played out with surprising deftness... [An] extraordinarily bold and peculiar romance * The Times * Written with gusto, wit an imaginative energy...an urgent and topical masterpiece * Literary Review * Thought-provoking, scrupulously constructed and narrated with buoyant high spirits * Times Literary Supplement * Cleverly written and left me with lots to think about...a very good book * http://www.farmlanebooks.co.uk/ *