‘No-one nowadays writes prose like Javier Marías . . . If you’re already a fan, you’ll know what to expect and rejoice. If you’re not, what a treat you have in store’ The Herald

Tomás Nevinson, a retired MI6 agent, is working for the British Embassy in Madrid when his former handler, the sinister Bertram Tupra, offers to bring him back inside for one last assignment. His mission: to catch and, if necessary, kill a terrorist gone to ground in Northern Spain after bombings in Barcelona and Zaragoza. The trouble is there are three suspects – all women – and it may not actually be any of them. To find out, Nevinson must move incognito to the small town where the three women separately live, and become an intimate friend to each, in the hope of uncovering a clue . . .

A philosophical thriller with a climate of suspense to rival le Carré and a psychological depth that is purely Marias’s own, this is a novel that explores the deepest of human questions: in what circumstances can killing be called just?

Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

‘The last word from a master . . . once you’ve been inside Marías’ world, to spend too long outside is unbearable’ The Sunday Times

‘A twisting espionage tale shot through with slantwise humour . . . seductive and inescapably poignant’ Observer

Century after century, the essence of Venice is unchanging. It is a place of contradictions, equal parts glamour and chaos. As a young man, Javier Marías made the city his home; since then he has left and returned many times, drawn back to its labyrinth of blind alleys, its pearly green canals, its imagined spaces.

His love affair with the city has lasted over thirty years – he has traced every inch of its endless interior, has lived among the Venetians and lived apart from them. In Venice, An Interior, Marías sets out to uncover the heart of this strange and enchanting place.