Berta Isla

''The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature'' Boston Globe

''No one else, anywhere, is writing quite like this'' Daily Telegraph

A thrilling new literary offering from the acclaimed author of The Infatuations and A Heart So White

''For a while, she wasn''t sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not...''

Berta Isla and Tom¿Nevinson meet in Madrid. Young and in love, they quickly decide to spend their lives together - never suspecting that they will grow to be total strangers, both living under the shadow of disappearances.

Tom¿ half-Spanish and half-English, has an extraordinary gift for languages and accents. Leaving Berta to study at Oxford, he catches the interest of a certain government agency, and its mysterious agent, Bertram Tupra. Tom¿is determined to evade the agent''s attentions but his fate is sealed by an escalating series of