The Spanish novelist is preoccupied with his country’s troubled past – from the civil war to the aftermath of Franco – but he fights shy of presuming he has the authority to sum it up.

“The gritty texture of his work comes less from the stamp he puts on events than from the way he layers rival points of view – a strategy that leaves moral judgment to the reader. It’s characteristic that his new book should unfold entirely as reported speech, free from authorial comment.” Read the complete review, here.