The Spies - Softcover

Fernando Veríssimo, Luís

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857051148 ISBN 13: 9780857051141

Publisher: MacLehose Press, 2013

Synopsis

A frustrated publisher receives a mysterious angst-ridden manuscript: 'a friend' must send it in installments; its contents would put the author in danger. As he pieces together the story, he learns that the author is the wife of one of the two Martelli brothers - gangsters who dominate a small town in the Brazilian interior. Surely her dark outpourings are a cry for help? One by one, he dispatches his motley collection of friends to Frondosa - a town totally obsessed with five-a-side football - to investigate and to bring her to safety.

About this title

Review:

'An unsual elegance and lightness of touch, as well as a lingering underlying melancholy. It's nicely written too - the translation is as smooth as silk' Andrew Taylor, Spectator. (Spectator)

'At barely 200 pages, and with a note-perfect translation from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, The Spies shares with a cryptic crossword the virtue of succinctness, not a word or scene wasted' Hannah Rosefield, Observer. (Observer)

From the Back Cover:

A frustrated publisher receives a mysterious angst-ridden manuscript, sent by a 'friend' secretly and in instalments; its contents would, the friend says, put the author - named only as Ariadne - in mortal danger. It seems she is married to one of two notorious Martelli brothers, shady businessmen who dominate a small town in a distant province. Surely her dark outpourings are a cry for help? Our unlikely hero is roused from his dissolute routines - the late-night drinking, literary debates and pitched battles over the proper placement of commas. One by one, he dispatches his motley collection of friends to Frondosa - a town almost morbidly obsessed with five-a-side football - to investigate and bring her to safety. But isn't there something about Ariadne's prose that is slightly... familiar?

About this edition

• Publisher: MacLehose Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0857051148
• ISBN 13: 9780857051141
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176